Russian soldier identified as suspect in sexual violence case during occupation of Balakliia, Kharkiv region
The National Police reported that a Russian soldier who participated in the seizure of part of the Kharkiv Oblast in 2022 was notified of suspicion in absentia for violating the laws and customs of war.
The suspect is a 22-year-old assistant grenade launcher operator of a motorized rifle squad from the 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 68th Army Corps of the Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces.
Although his name is not mentioned, prosecutors recently published a notice of suspicion for Andеi Andreev, a native of the Republic of Tuva, whose details match those in the law enforcement report.
The incident alleged against the Russian occurred on April 1, 2022, in Balakliia. At that time, Andreev broke into a house where two women and their children were present. The suspect pointed a weapon at a sleeping child and ordered one of the victims to go with him so he could rape her. That evening, the suspect also forced the second woman to undress, and after humiliating her, ordered her to leave. Alongside the violence, the Russian consumed alcohol, according to the case materials.
He faces up to 12 years in prison for his actions.
At the same time, in the nearly four years since the events, there have been reports of Andreev’s death: one of them stated that he died the day after the crime, while another cited April 12 as the date of death.
To provide background, more than three hundred cases of conflict-related sexual violence have been documented in Ukraine. The government has already suggested that the actual number could be ten times higher than the official figure.
You may also want to read: Ukrainian men submitted 70% of applications for interim reparations for victims of sexual violence during the Russia’s war – Global Survivors Fund
Law enforcement officials have pointed out that Russia uses sexual violence as a weapon of war, and similar views have been expressed by the UN. Most of the victims known to the UN special commission are women who were home alone.
The Human Rights Centre ZMINA reported on some identified Russian servicemen suspected of committing such crimes, including:
- Shamil Makhmudov, who raped a woman during the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia region;
- Artem Pronchenko and Oleksandr Gladkov, who allegedly kidnapped, beat, and raped a mother of two children in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region;
- Roman Popov, suspected of raping an illegally detained man in Kherson;
- Yevhen Chornoknyzhnyi and Vadym Shakhmatov, suspected of a series of rapes in the Kyiv region in 2022;
- Oleksandr Radnatarov, Kyrylo Kholmurzayev, and Belikt Zhugdurov, suspected of raping a woman in the Kyiv region after threatening to kill her mother and child;
- Akhmerov Emil, Mammi Mammiiev, and Kostyantyn Shlyapnikov, who in 2022 abducted a woman from her home and raped her in the Kharkiv region;
- Baila Bardanova, suspected of raping a woman in the Kyiv region;
- Rinat Khakimyanov and Arslan Salikhov, suspected of raping a pregnant woman in the Kyiv region;
- Bulat Fassakhov, suspected of a rape that lasted several days in the Kyiv region;
- Mykhailo Romanov, accused of raping a woman in the village of Shevchenkove in the Kyiv region. This case was one of the first such incidents to become known in the media.
