NEW YORK: A panel of UN experts on Monday accused Russia of committing crimes against humanity by repeatedly targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, along with other alleged war crimes and rights violations.
Established by the UN Human Rights Council after Russia’s launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, the panel has been tasked with probing possible violations of international law during the conflict.
It has previously accused Moscow of crimes against humanity over its launching of drone attacks on civilian populations and the forced transfer of thousands of children from Ukraine to Russia.
In its report on Monday, the panel noted an increasing “frequency, intensity and geographic range” of attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector.
The evidence collected shows Russia’s actions “were carried out with intent and pursuant to a state policy to deprive the civilian population of electricity and other essential energy-dependent services and cause suffering,” the panel said.
It highlighted impacts to the general population during last winter, when “millions of people in Ukraine faced lengthy outages of heating, electricity, water, and gas, and had to cope with intolerable living conditions.”
The panel said it also sought to examine Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure but was not granted access by Moscow.
In addition to the energy attacks, the panel probed Russia’s recruitment of foreigners to fight in the war and found “compelling evidence that Russian authorities have trafficked persons from 29 countries” around the world.
“The human trafficking was done through deception and coercion, in coordination with agents or agencies operating in different countries or geographic regions,” the panel said.
Once in Russia, the trafficked men were coerced into signing military contracts and deployed to the frontlines.
“Many have been killed or have gone missing, others have surrendered or were captured by the Ukrainian armed forces, thereby acquiring the status of prisoners of war,” the panel said, urging Russia to discharge all trafficked persons.
