Attorney General Merrick Garland said the U.S. can bring the charges under a war crimes statute passed 30 years ago.
And Garland said the case was only the beginning: “This is our first, and you should expect more.”
The DOJ charged Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, a commanding officer in Russia’s army, along with another officer and two lower-ranking Russian soldiers.
Mkrtchyan is accused of directing his soldiers to abduct an unidentified American in the village of Mylove in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.
The Russian soldiers are accused of severely beating and threatening to kill the American.
“The evidence gathered by our agents speaks to the brutality, criminality, and depravity of Russia’s invasion,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Separately, the United Nations and Ukraine have also documented what they call Russian war crimes since the February 2022 invasion.
The U.S. has provided billions of dollars to help Ukraine thwart the Russian invasion, but Kyiv also considers Washington’s support in prosecuting Russians for alleged war crimes just as important.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the indictment marks the first time the U.S. has ever used the War Crimes Act of 1996.
“Cases like this one are among the most complex the FBI works,” Wray said. “But bringing them is essential to deterring crimes like these.”
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
