Updated 8:39 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a case of genocide of the Russian-speaking people of eastern Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Monday.
“The main investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee has launched criminal charges on genocide against the Russian-speaking population residing in the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics,” Markin said.
Markin added that “unidentified individuals from the ranks of the upper levels of Ukraine’s political and military leadership, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian National Guard, and the Right Sector gave commands directed at the full annihilation of Russian-speaking citizens living in the territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics.”
He said that no less than 2,500 people died as a result of their actions.
According to the committee spokesman, the Grad and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems, unguided rockets with cluster munition warheads, Tochka-U tactical missile systems and other types of heavy indiscriminate weapons were used to kill Russian-speaking citizens.
Besides, Markin added, “More than 300,000 residents who feared for their life and health were forced to leave their permanent places of residence and seek refuge on the territory of the Russian Federation”.
Ukraine has been engulfed in a violent internal conflict since mid-April, when Kiev began its military operation against independence supporters in the southeastern regions of the country. According to the United Nations' estimates, some 3,500 people have been killed and more than 8,000 wounded since the start of the offensive.
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