Russian claiming to be ex-soldier wants to testify on ‘atrocities’ in Ukraine

A Russian claiming to be a former officer with the Wagner Group wants to provide evidence to the International Criminal Court, which is investigating the war in Ukraine.

A Russian claiming to be a former officer with the Wagner Group has arrived in the Netherlands and says he wants to provide evidence to the International Criminal Court, which is investigating atrocities in the war in Ukraine.

Dutch news program EenVandaag reported Monday that Igor Salikov had flown into the Netherlands. The news show spoke to him via a videolink. He is believed to have applied for asylum and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Salikov said he was in eastern Ukraine in 2014 when conflict erupted there, and in 2022 when Russia invaded its neighbour.

“I know where the orders came from,” he told EenVandaag. His claims could not be independently verified.

The Wagner Group, a military contractor created by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, deployed to eastern Ukraine when a Moscow-backed separatist rebellion erupted there in 2014. It also took part in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, spearheading the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut that was captured by Russian forces in May.

Prigozhin, who staged a brief mutiny in June when he sent Wagner mercenaries to march on Moscow demanding the ouster of top military leaders, was killed in an air crash in August.

The ICC issued an international arrest warrant in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin, alleging that he was responsible for the abduction of children from Ukraine. Information about the Russian chain of command could be crucial in building more cases against senior Russians involved in the war.

The court’s prosecution office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.