The countries of the European Union have approved this Tuesday to sanction senior Russian military officials involved in the invasion of Ukraine who are accused of encouraging “systematic sexual violence” against Ukrainian women as a strategy of war.
It is the first time that the 27 use their human rights sanctions regime, which was established in December 2020, to specifically punish crimes of sexual and gender violence. Those affected have had their assets in the EU frozen and they will be prohibited from entering community territory.
The package of restrictive measures, which includes a total of nine people and three entitieshas been deliberately timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8. The sanctions also affect leaders of Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burma, Syria or Iran.
[El Estado Mayor ucraniano convence a Zelenski para defender Bakhmut pese al alto número de bajas]
“No matter where it happens, we will combat and eliminate all forms of violence against women. With today’s decision, we are intensifying efforts to counter sexual and gender-based violence, to ensure that those responsible are held accountable for their actions and to combat impunity“, said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
In the case of Russia, the 27 sanction Major General Nikolay Anatolevich Kuznetsov, who participated in Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine. “Members of his unit systematically participated in acts of sexual violence and rape in Ukraine in March and April 2022“, reports the Official Journal of the EU.
The second soldier included in the EU blacklist is Colonel Ramil Rakhmatulovich Ibatullin, who served in the Russian occupation troops in the Donbass region (2014-2017) and participated in Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine as commander from the 90 Armored Division of the National Guard.
In March 2022, the division under his command participated in the offensive towards Chernihiv and kyiv, during which members of his division carried out acts of sexual and gender-based violence against the Ukrainian civilian population. Once these facts were made public, the Russian Ministry of Defense promoted Ibatullin to the rank of colonel.
Ukrainian authorities have charged several members of the 90 Guards Armored Division for committing acts of sexual and gender-based violence, including the rape of a pregnant woman near Kiev, the killing of a civilian after the repeated rape of his wife in the presence of a young child, and the involvement of members of this division in gang rapes.
“The scale and severity of acts of sexual and gender-based violence that occurred in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine point to a ‘planning at a more systematic scale’ since Russian commanders were aware of acts of sexual violence committed by military personnel in Ukraine, and in some cases ‘encouraged or even ordered them'”, notes the Official Journal of the EU.
The package of restrictive measures also includes two senior officials from the Moscow police station, who are accused of “heto arbitrary detention and torture of women anti-war protesters in March 2022“. According to the victims, one of the police officers sanctioned “beat them, suffocated them with plastic bags, and physically and verbally abused them for six hours.”
