SBU issues criminal charges against head of Russia’s Wagner private military company
Investigators from Ukraine’s SBU security service have charged, in absentia, the head of Russia’s private military company Wagner with involvement in trespassing against Ukraine’s territorial integrity, as well as complicity in the conduct of an aggressive war, according to a statement published on the SBU’s website on Dec. 23.
The suspect is said to have commanded mercenary forces during a battle near the village of Debaltseve between Russian Federation proxy forces and the Ukrainian military, in 2015.
The Wagner head was not named in the official document laying out the charges against him, making it illegal under Ukrainian law to name him.
The document further states that during the period from July 2014 to March 2015, in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblast, the suspect coordinated his actions with the former commander of the 2nd Army Corps of the Russian Federation.
According to the SBU, they have gathered enough evidence to initiative criminal proceedings against the suspect under:
- Part 3 of Article 110 (Trespass against the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine
- Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, and Part 2 of Article 437 (complicity in the conduct of an aggressive war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
