Former officer of private military company Wagner to testify at the International Criminal Court

A former Russian army colonel has arrived in the Netherlands to testify at the International Criminal Court.

He said this in an interview with the EenVandaag programme of the public broadcaster NPO1.

Igor Salikov has already written a statement to the ICC about his willingness to testify against Russia. He claims that he served for 25 years in the Russian army and the Wagner PMC, and in 2014 took part in Russia's occupation of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In his words, "the independence referendum was falsified" because "the correct election results had to be transmitted to the Kremlin".

Salikov also participated in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He reports that he witnessed "atrocities against civilians", executions of prisoners of war, and abductions of children by FSS agents who transported them to Belarus. According to him, the abduction of children is "consistent with other sources".

The former Russian army officer says he is willing to testify because he has "lost faith in the Russian cause". Last year, he refused to comply with an order to shoot civilians and was supposed to stand trial in a military court in Russia. However, he managed to flee first to Cyprus and then to the Netherlands, where he surrendered to the police and declared his willingness to testify in the international court. The ICC has not yet responded to his application.

It will be recalled that the International Criminal Court is considering the case of Ukraine against Russia for violation of the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The ICC also put Vladimir Putin on the international wanted list for the forced removal of children from Ukraine.