4 Russians become first charged under US war crimes act

The U.S. is bringing its first charges of war crimes against four Russian military personnel for alleged atrocities committed against an American citizen in Ukraine during Moscow’s full-scale invasion of the country.  

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges Wednesday, unsealing an indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia.

“Congress passed the U.S. war crimes statute nearly 30 years ago, to give us jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes committed against American citizens abroad,” Garland said at a press conference.

“In an indictment returned yesterday in the Eastern District of Virginia, we have charged four Russia-affiliated military personnel with war crimes against an American citizen living in Ukraine,” Garland added. “The charges include conspiracy to commit war crimes, including war crimes outlawed by the international community after World War II, unlawful confinement, torture, and inhuman treatment.” 

Garland also said that while these are the first war crimes charges brought by the U.S. government, more are expected. 

“I can’t get into too many details. But this is our first, and you should expect more,” he said.

The Biden administration and Congress have said that U.S. support for Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia includes pursuing justice for war crime victims. That effort is spread out against multiple venues, including the pursuit of war crimes charges in Ukrainian courts and on the international stage.

The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights over allegations of war crimes surrounding the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

And Ukraine’s top prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, told The Hill in January that Kyiv viewed U.S. support in prosecuting Russia for war crimes as important as military assistance for weapons on the battlefield. 

The indictment unsealed Wednesday lays out charges that a commanding officer of military units in the Russian Armed Forces, Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, directed soldiers under his command to abduct the unidentified American victim from his home in April 2022 from the village of Mylove in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. 

The indictment also names Russian national Dmitry Budnik, a commanding officer, and two lower-ranking military personnel, Valerii and Nazar, though their last names are unknown.

The four Russians are alleged to have interrogated, severely beaten and tortured the American victim. They also allegedly threatened to kill the victim and conducted a mock execution.

“As today’s announcement makes clear, when an American citizen’s human rights are violated their government will spare no effort and spare no resources to bring the perpetrators to justice,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“Second, the evidence gathered by our agents speaks to the brutality, criminality, and depravity of Russia’s invasion. The Ukrainian people have had and must continue to have America’s full support against Russia’s unjust, unprovoked and unlawful war of aggression. We cannot allow such horrific crimes to be ignored. To do so would only increase the risk they will be repeated.”

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division would not comment beyond the allegations in the indictment if the U.S. government was looking at charges going up the Russian chain of command and if Putin could become the subject of a federal indictment.   

Federal law enforcement officials underscored the deep collaboration across agencies that was required to reach the indictment, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and field offices in Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Warsaw and Moscow.

“Though today marks the first time the War Crimes Act of 1996 has been charged in U.S. history, this is certainly not the first time the FBI has investigated war crimes and held perpetrators accountable,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“Cases like this one are among the most complex the FBI works but bringing them is essential to deterring crimes like these and showing would-be perpetrators that no one is above the law and that war crimes will not go unpunished.”

The breakthrough by federal law enforcement to bring war crimes charges against Russian citizens raises the possibility that similar charges could be brought against members of Hamas who killed Americans and took them hostage as part of the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s brutal assault against Israel on Oct. 7. 

American families whose loved ones are being held by Hamas have said they have been in contact with the FBI. 

“Hamas murdered more than 30 Americans and kidnapped more during their terrorist attack on October 7. We are investigating those heinous crimes and we will hold those people accountable,” Garland said Wednesday.

Updated at 11:34 a.m.