Russia has prepared list of Ukrainians to be killed or captured, US says

A Ukrainian soldier walks through Novohnativka, in the breakaway region of the country, on February 19, 2022 – AFP

Russia has prepared a list of Ukrainians to be killed or captured in the event of an invasion of Ukraine, the US government said in a letter sent to the UN human rights body and of which AFP obtained a copy on Sunday.

The letter notes that Washington is “deeply concerned” and warns of a potential “human rights catastrophe”.

The US government has “reliable information indicating that Russian forces are drawing up lists of Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps after a military occupation,” the letter states.

“We also have reliable information that Russian forces would use lethal measures to disperse peaceful protests or somehow counteract the peaceful exercise of resistance by civilian populations,” adds the message sent to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Chilean. Michelle Bachelet.

The note, signed by US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Bathsheba Nell Crocker, warns that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would provoke abuses such as kidnapping or torture, and could target political and religious dissidents and ethnic minorities.

Russia has sent more than 150,000 troops to the border with Ukraine in recent weeks.

Moscow denies plans to attack the neighboring country, but seeks assurances that Ukraine will not join NATO and that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will remove its forces from eastern Europe, proposals rejected by Western countries.