On Friday, Ukraine announced that it had transferred a captured Russian soldier to Lithuania, where he will face trial for alleged war crimes, marking what officials described as a “historic” precedent.
“For the first time since the onset of full-scale aggression, Ukraine has handed over a Russian military member to a foreign nation, Lithuania, for legitimate criminal prosecution for war crimes,” stated Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko via Telegram.
Kyiv remains committed to making Russian military leaders accountable for the 2022 invasion and is pursuing international justice for numerous reported atrocities attributed to the Russian forces.
According to officials, the individual extradited— a sailor from the Russian military police— was captured by Ukrainian forces in the Zaporizhzhia area near the southern village of Robotyne.
Kravchenko noted that he was implicated in the unlawful detention, torture, and inhumane treatment of both civilians and prisoners of war, with one of his victims being a Lithuanian national.
Vilnius intends to file war crimes charges against the soldier, who could potentially face life imprisonment in the Baltic nation, a NATO and EU member and a strong ally of Ukraine.
Kravchenko referred to this extradition as “an important and historic precedent for the global justice system.”
“It sends a clear message to every war criminal: you will not escape justice in any country within the free world.”
The Lithuanian prosecutor general’s office stated in a release that local law enforcement had collaborated with Kyiv regarding the case.
“It is alleged that, along with other Russian soldiers, the suspect not only guarded illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war but also participated in their beating and torture,” the statement read.
Details of the alleged torture included “locking victims in a metal safe, suffocating them until they lost consciousness, hanging them by their tied hands, dousing them with cold water in freezing conditions, and subjecting them to electric shocks.”
A court in Vilnius has ordered the suspect to remain in custody for at least three months pending trial, as reported by the prosecutor general’s office.
