Finland prosecutes Russian neo-Nazi Petrovsky for war crimes in Ukraine

Finnish prosecutors have charged Russian neo-Nazi Yan Petrovsky, a member of the notorious Rusich Group, with five war crimes committed in eastern Ukraine during the autumn of 2014, according to reports from Yle.

The charges pertain to Petrovsky’s involvement in the Rusich unit, which is notorious for its brutality, including the savage killings of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Since the war began, members of this group have fought alongside Russia-led separatists in the Luhansk region and later aligned with the Russian army during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Petrovsky faces accusations of actions that violate the rules of warfare. 

He and several others from his unit are charged with killing 22 Ukrainian servicemen and seriously injuring four others. Under Finnish law, these charges are classified as international crimes.

“This marks the first case in Finnish history in which charges are brought for war crimes committed in Ukraine,” the journalists report.

Throughout the investigation, the National Bureau of Investigation of Finland has worked in collaboration with Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office  and Security Service (SBU). The Helsinki District Court has yet to set a trial date.

Petrovsky illegally entered Finland under the alias of Voislav Torden and was arrested in August 2023. Finland’s obligation to exercise its own criminal jurisdiction takes precedence over the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which means he could not be extradited to Ukraine.

Additionally, Petrovsky has been sanctioned by the EU and U.S. for actions that threaten Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and security.