- Lawyer Jason McCue has argued that Russia should be classified as a state sponsor of terrorism over its use of the Wagner Group, a private mercenary company. It has been accused of committing human rights atrocities including mass executions, arbitrary detention, torture during interrogations, and forced displacement of populations. His law firm is bringing action in the High Court against the Wagner Group on behalf of victims who have fled the war in Ukraine, believing its assets can be used to provide reparations.
- Convicts serving with the Wagner Group are being tortured and executed by their commanding officers for such ‘offences’ as not complying with orders, according to the Gulagu.net project which has seen correspondence from prisoners at the front line.
- Russia is relying on isolated states like North Korea and Iran to restock its depleted weapons supplies.
- The Ukrainian government estimates that Russian soldiers have looted or ransacked about 40 museums since the start of the war in February and has described this as a war crime similar to the looting by Nazi troops.
- According to the UN Human Rights Office, public officials and human rights activists were kidnapped and tortured by the Russians in Kherson. It had by mid-November documented 90 new cases but believes the true number to be much higher. Ukrainian teams have identified over 400 suspected war crimes there. Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said that at least 34,000 possible war crimes have been carried out by Russia since February.
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