US will help Ukraine in War Crimes justice

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin met today in Washington to discuss ways to hold accountable individuals responsible for war crimes and other atrocities that occurred in the aftermath of Russia’s provocative and unlawful invasion of Ukraine. The leaders outlined areas for enhanced collaboration and signed a memorandum understanding (MOU) that will facilitate proper coordination, cooperation, and deconfliction between the two countries’ respective prosecutions and investigations.

“The United States stands by the people of Ukraine in their tireless pursuit to uphold the rule of law and seek justice for victims in the face of Russia’s continued aggression,” said U.S. Attorney General Garland. “Today, the Department of Justice and the Prosecutor General’s Office announced that we will work more closely to identify, apprehend, and prosecute people who have been involved in war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine. We will continue to be relentless in these efforts to hold perpetrators accountable.”

“The MOU we signed today allows us to step up our common efforts in ensuring accountability for international crimes,” said Ukraine Prosecutor General Kostin. “Through establishing a formal framework of cooperation, we will strengthen effective investigation and prosecution of crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine and provide a measure of justice to victims.”

The U.S.-Ukraine MOU will promote efficiency in investigations and prosecutions by complying with national laws, removing obstacles to efficient and timely exchange of information and evidence in investigations and prosecutions by both countries, and increasing the ease with the speed at which technical cooperation can be offered.

The MOU is a continuation of previous efforts by the department following the Attorney General’s visit to Ukraine in June 21 2022. On that trip, Attorney General Garland announced the launch of a War Crimes Accountability Team to consolidate and enhance the Justice Department’s ongoing effort to hold accountable those who have committed atrocities, war crimes, and other crimes in Ukraine in the aftermath of the unprovoked Russian invasion. The team brings together the department’s leading experts in investigations involving human rights abuses as well as war crimes and other atrocities. The team provides wide-ranging technical assistance, including operational assistance and advice regarding criminal prosecutions and evidence collection, forensics, and relevant legal analysis. A central component of the team’s work is to conduct ongoing investigations into potential war crimes for which the United States possesses jurisdiction, for example, the murder and injury of U.S. journalists covering the unprovoked Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The leaders also discussed the necessity of continuing efforts to counter Russian illicit financial transactions and sanctions evasion. In March Attorney General Garland announced the establishment of Task Force KleptoCapture (TFKC) to further leverage the department’s resources and authority in order to deter attempts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. Government in response to Russian military aggression. TFKC, an interagency law enforcement task force run from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General is committed to enforcing massive sanctions, export control and economic countermeasures that the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Since its inception, the task force has facilitated the confiscation and forfeiture of assets like superyachts, superyachts, and airplanes, of sanctioned individuals with close relations to the Russian regime; dismantled Russian criminal networks and enforced sanctions violations, among other things.