‘Crooked’ Putin opening door to ‘floodgate’ of war crime trials

Russia: Retired US general calls leaders ‘crooked’

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Mr Hertling sat down with journalist Ana Cabrera to discuss the latest war crime trial of a 21-year-old  Russian soldier.

On Wednesday a Russian soldier pleaded guilty to committing a war crime.

Mr Hertling discussed how the West can expect to see more war crime trials due to Russian troops, raping, and looting which are all considered war crimes under the Geneva convention.

The EU has recognised more than 10,000 war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine so far, this number is expected to continue to rise. 

Mr Hertling told CNN: “Certainly you reply on your leaders.

“When your leaders are crooked when your leaders are criminal which is shown to be the case in the Russian army, time and time again.

“And they order soldiers to do these kinds of things, soldiers will execute for fear of being disciplined or harshly condemned by their commander.

“And in some cases punished to the extreme, so this is going to be the start of a war crimes floodgate.

“We’re going to see more and more of this, where young soldiers are claiming that they were ordered to do things.

“But the fact of the matter is they killed raped and looted which are all war crimes.”

Sergeant Vadim Shyshimarin, 21, is the Russian soldier who has been accused of shooting a 62-year-old unarmed civilian.

Mr Shyshimarin has pleaded guilty to shooting the Ukrainian civilian in the head, in the Northeastern village of Chupakhiva.

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He now faces ten years to life behind bars in prison for his crime.

EU countries have been backing Ukraine, since the beginning of the Russian onslaught.

Czech politician, Pavel Fisher said: “We criticise the crimes that Russian troops are committing in this operation, which are war crimes.

“Because they are based on ethnicity, language, affiliation, place of residence, [they] basically bear the hallmarks of genocide.”

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss explained that a special British team with the skillset of investigating rape and sexual assault as possible war crimes will be heading to Ukraine this month.

There have been dozens of reports of inhumane sexual assaults, committed by Russian soldiers, since the beginning of the war. 

Ms Truss said: “It’s done to subjugate women and destroy communities and we want to see it stopped.

“This is about collecting a wide range of evidence, witness statements, forensic evidence, and video evidence.”

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