Moscow – Russian investigation suddenly freed the detained Ukrainian officers from the 72nd brigade, which were suspected of using prohibited methods and means of war. Official representative of the Russian Investigation Committee Vladimir Markin stated that criminal prosecution of the servicemen had been suspended. According to some Russian experts, such actions show that Kremlin policy in regard to Ukraine has stumbled into a dead-end.
The Ukrainian officers were arrested on August 7 on the territory of Rostov oblast. On the same day the Russian court sentenced them to three months in jail.
A day after the decision was made, the official representative of the Russian Investigation Committee Vladimir Markin already spoke not of the crimes committed by the 72nd brigade servicemen of the Ukrainian army, but of the fact that “governed by principles of humanity, the decision was made not to press charges and give them the opportunity to return to Ukrainian territory.”
In the nearest weeks nothing good will happen to these “rebels”
Military expert, deputy editor-in-chief of “Daily Journal” publication Alexandr Goltz thinks that the story with Ukrainian servicemen, just like the claims about yet another retreat of the Russian army from the border, testifies to a search for a window of opportunity to allow the separatists to rest.
“The Kremlin’s policy regarding Ukraine is a dead-end. For some time the counted on Kyiv resorting to dialogue with those they call “rebels.” It never worked. I am very skeptical about the future of the antiterrorist operation, however it is more or less clear that nothing good will happen to these “rebels” in the nearest weeks. They need rest. This is why this peacekeeping operation story was invented – and it didn’t work. So they have to constantly come up with something new. One of the options is such a demonstration of good will with Ukrainian servicemen, retreat of troops from the border and so forth,” thinks Alexandr Goltz.
Legislative absurd
According to Alexandr Goltz, the situation, in which charges were pressed against Ukrainian servicemen according to Russian laws for so-called crimes committed on Ukrainian soil, looked absurd. Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko’s imprisonment in Russian jail is just as absurd, according to her lawyers. One of them, Mark Feigin, told Radio Liberty in an interview that in Savchenko’s case as well the decision lies in the political plane, instead of the legislative one.
“I am convinced that a political decision is the instrument which may give some way out of this dead-end. As it is completely obvious that both the servicemen from the 72nd brigade and Savchenko, who ended up Russian territory as a result of kidnapping, have not committed any crimes which may have been incriminated to them on the territory of the Russian Federation. It would be best, for everyone’s satisfaction, taking into account the political circumstances in the east of Ukraine, to simply let her go the same way and put an end to this question without continuing this absolutely insane story,” noted lawyer Feigin.
72nd brigade servicemen are already on Ukrainian territory. However, according to experts, their freeing should not be seen as the Kremlin’s rejection of its plans to escalate the conflict in the Ukrainian east.
Source: Radio Liberty
Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina
