Geopolitics & Foreign Policy
A Russian former soldier wants to testify before the ICC over war crimes he witnessed.
According to a Dutch legal source who spoke to Reuters on Tuesday, a former Russian soldier has applied for asylum in the Netherlands and wants to testify before the International Criminal Court regarding war crimes he saw Russia commit while battling in Ukraine.
The guy, identifying himself as 60-year-old Igor Salikov in Dutch media, claimed to have served as an instructor for the Wagner mercenary organization in Ukraine and to have been a part of the Russian-backed troops of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Reuters could not independently verify his affiliation with the Wagner organization and the pro-Russian separatist groups.
Salikov has already communicated with Ukrainian prosecutors for over six months, Yurii Belousov, the country’s chief war crimes prosecutor, told Reuters.