Washington, D.C : The U.S. government on December 6 announced that it has brought its first-ever charges under the War Crimes Act of 1996 against four Russian-affiliated soldiers who allegedly violated the human rights of an American residing in Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
The soldiers—Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, Dmitry Budnik, and two additional defendants known only by their first names (Valerii and Nazar)—stand accused of unlawfully confining, torturing, and otherwise abusing an American who was living in Ukraine.
The indictment asserts that Mkrtchyan and Budnik were officers of the Russian Armed Forces and/or the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, that they outranked the other two defendants, and that all four men were allegedly fighting on Russia’s behalf when the atrocities occurred.
“In April 2022, Mkrtchyan and soldiers under his command allegedly abducted the victim, a U.S. citizen, from his home in the village of Mylove in the Kherson region of Ukraine and illegally confined him for at least 10 days,” a DOJ release about the indictment states. “During the abduction, Mkrtchyan, Valerii, and Nazar allegedly threw the victim face down to the ground while he was naked, tied his hands behind his back, pointed a gun at his head, and severely beat him, including with the stocks of their guns.”
This map shows the location of the Kherson region of Ukraine.
Following the violent abduction, the release explained, the defendants allegedly moved him to
“an improvised military compound” that was being used by the Russian military and its affiliates. During his captivity, the victim was allegedly subjected to two torture-filled interrogations, beaten, held at gunpoint, threatened with death, and subjected to a mock execution, the release stated. He allegedly suffered these abuses at the hands of the defendants as well as other individuals, it noted.
In addition to being charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes, the defendants have been charged with the following war crimes, in particular:
- Unlawful confinement
- Torture
- Inhuman treatment
All four men may face life in prison if convicted, the release states.
“Since the start of their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia has weaponized human rights abuses to wreak unimaginable tragedy,” Wray said of the announcement. “Today’s indictment—the first ever under the U.S. war crimes statute—makes clear that the FBI will work with the full cooperation of international law enforcement to bring justice to the victims of these atrocities. The human toll of the conflict in Ukraine weighs heavily on the hearts of the FBI and, we’re resolved to hold war criminals accountable no matter where they are or how long it takes.”
The FBI’s Washington Field Office and Homeland Security Investigations—the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security—investigated this case in conjunction with the Bureau’s International Human Rights Unit, Victim Services Division, and our international offices in Kyiv, Ukraine; Warsaw, Poland; and Moscow.
The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center at the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement; DOJ’s Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section and War Crimes Accountability Team; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia also supported the investigation.
Why the FBI Investigates War Crimes
The FBI has had authority to investigate human rights issues since 1988, when Congress made genocide a crime under U.S. law. Our jurisdiction to investigate war crimes, in particular, comes from the War Crimes Act of 1996. The jurisdiction also requires that either the victim or the perpetrator has to be a U.S. person.
This statute defined these crimes as any conduct during peace or wartime that gravely breaches any of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949—international human rights rules enacted in the wake of World War II—”or any protocol to the conventions which the U.S. is a party to,” explained Supervisory Special Agent Daudshah Andish, who leads the Bureau’s International Human Rights Unit.
So long as the victim or perpetrator is a U.S. person or a U.S. citizen, the FBI may investigate war crimes including:
- Genocide (18 USC 1091)
- Torture (18 USC 2340-2340A)
- War Crimes (18 USC 2441)
- Use or Recruitment of Child Soldiers (18 USC 2442)
The January 2023 passage of the Victims of War Crimes Act enhanced this jurisdiction by allowing the U.S. government to investigate and prosecute foreigners who it suspects may have committed war crimes overseas—regardless of the citizenship of the victim(s)—so long as the suspected war criminal is located on U.S. soil.
“… As you can see from today’s announcement, we will work relentlessly to bring criminals to justice—no matter how long or how far our work may take us,” Wray said at the press conference.
How the FBI Investigates War Crimes
FBI war crime investigations involve extensive partnerships, document-based research, international travel, translation, extensive victim and witness interviews, and liaison with international law enforcement partners, Andish explained.
If the alleged crimes are related to atrocities that were committed before the U.S. enacted war crime statutes, and the perpetrator is located in the United States, the FBI and HSI will review historical documents, interview witnesses and leverage U.S. immigration laws to bring the perpetrators to justice.
To collect evidence, FBI special agents may need to travel overseas and coordinate with our international law enforcement partners to meet with and interview victims and witnesses, and in some cases, collect and package evidence from the crime scene.
The Bureau’s Language Services Division may also help investigators translate and make sense of “fragmentary information” in foreign languages.
FBI Victim Services Division personnel can also help investigators ensure that their forensic interviews don’t retraumatize victims, as well as provide other specialized resources and support.
Finally, the FBI’s international offices (also known as legal attachés), DOJ, the U.S. Department of State, and/or other foreign partners may need to help coordinate these investigations.
“We don’t investigate these crimes in a vacuum,” Andish stressed.
Identifying The Defendants
Two of the defendants’ last names aren’t known. Andish said the public can help bring them to justice by helping the FBI find these missing pieces of the investigative puzzle.
Wray also encouraged people who may have information concerning the defendants or human rights violations to contact the Bureau by calling their local FBI field office or visiting tips.fbi.gov.
If a person with information is located outside of the United States and can safely make their way to the nearest U.S. embassy, they can provide a tip in-person, Andish added.
