The war crimes of Russia (in Spanish)

ZMINA’s International Advocacy Manager, Tetiana Zhukova, joined Alberto Hernández’s program Losimplenovale to discuss the current state of Russia’s war against Ukraine. She was joined by Ignacio Montes de Oca (analyst, writer and journalist) and Andrea Polidura (journalist at El Debate).

During the conversation, Zhukova addressed Russia’s policy of persecuting civilians in the territories it has occupied since 2014, including denying medical care to political prisoners and the systematic persecution in territories newly occupied since 2022. This persecution particularly affects human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and local government representatives, who are abducted, tortured, subjected to trials with false accusations, or held incommunicado for years, as in the case of the Spaniard Mariano García Calatayud. It is estimated that around 16,000 civilians are currently detained under these conditions by Russia.

The situation of Ukrainian children was also discussed: approximately 20,000 have been deported to Russia, and more than 2,000 forcibly transferred to Belarus. Participants talked about how to repatriate people who have been deported or illegally imprisoned, document these crimes, hold the perpetrators accountable, and provide support to the victims.

Source: Losimplenovale (in Spanish)