Pushilin wants "international tribunal" to decide on Azovstal fighters

KATERINA TISHCHENKO - WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022, 18:18

Denis Pushilin, the leader of  the temporarily occupied region of Donetsk, has spoken in favour of subjecting the Ukrainian military from the Azovstal steelworks to an "international tribunal."

Source : Pushilin, quoted by separatist news medium "DAN"( Donetsk news agency)

Quote from Pushilin : "At the moment it’s a question of the next stage. The tribunal must be international. "

Details : The separatist website notes that this is how Pushilin answered the question of who will judge the Ukrainian fighters - "Russia, DNR (Donetsk People's Republic) or LNR ( Luhansk People's Republic)". However, he did not specify what he meant by "international tribunal".

Earlier, the separatist leader said that the fate of the captured defenders of Mariupol should be decided by a court.

"As for war criminals, as well as those who are nationalists, their fate, if they have laid down their arms, must be decided by a court. No matter how you play in separate ones, I know there are different thoughts and emotions, if an enemy [soldier] has laid down his arms, his future fate is decided by a court, if he is a Nazi criminal, this will be a tribunal," Pushilin said.

"War criminals," according to the leader of the temporarily occupied region of Donetsk, are "not only the commanders of Ukrainian fighters, but also those who carry out their orders and carry a Nazi ideology in their actions, especially against civilians."

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Pushilin also said that there were no high-ranking commanders among the Ukrainian servicemen who had "surrendered" at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

"Currently, there are no top-level commanders - they did not leave (from the Azovstal plant). But that's for now," he said.

Background : Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defence said that almost a thousand Ukrainian fighters had left the blockaded Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Background :

• On 16 May, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the Mariupol garrison had completed its combat mission and that the commanders now had orders to save the lives of their personnel. The Ministry of Defence explained that there is no other way to save the defenders from Azovstal, except to go to the enemy.
• Western media reported that on 17 May, at least seven buses with Ukrainian fighters under the control of the Russian occupiers left Azovstal. 256 defenders, including 51 wounded, were taken to a holding camp in Olenivka. The Ukrainian soldiers will be interrogated .

On Wednesday, the State Duma of the Russian Federation was to consider a draft resolution banning the exchange of so-called "Nazi criminals", and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 26 May will consider recognising the Ukrainian Azov Regiment as a terrorist organization.