Rapist soldiers must be brought to justice, the Foreign Secretary said on Wednesday, following reports Russian troops had attacked women captured during the war in Ukraine.
Liz Truss called the reports of sexual assault by soldiers from Vladimir Putin’s army “abhorrent”.
She told the Standard: “Reports emerging from Ukraine of rape and sexual abuse are deeply disturbing. This behaviour against women is abhorrent.
“The UK continues to act decisively with its allies to punish Russia for its unprovoked aggression against Ukraine and we will do all we can to bring the perpetrators of war crimes including sexual violence to justice.”
Tory peer Arminka Helic, who came to the UK as a refugee from the Bosnian war in the Nineties, called for an independent international body to be set up to investigate reports of rape and sexual assault in Ukraine.
She told the Standard: “The present situation in Ukraine is yet another reminder that the gap between a crime and accountability has to be closed.
“It is crucial to ensure that justice is done and impunity for crimes of gender-based violence is ended.” Baroness Helic served in the coalition government as special adviser to the then-foreign secretary William Hague and helped launch the UK’s Global Sexual Violence Initiative.
Baroness Helic worked with Angelina Jolie to draw attention to sexual violence in war and helped launch the UK's Global Sexual Violence Initiative in 2014 with then UK Foreign Secretary William Hague.
“These horrendous crimes have become a part of every single conflict,” she added.
“And those responsible for committing them are almost never held responsible. We must establish an independent international body to investigate crimes of sexual violence in conflict.”
Ukraine’s General Prosecutors Office began investigating rape allegations made against Russian soldiers over a week ago when a woman reported being attacked in a Kyiv suburb.
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The 33-year-old described two drunk Russian troops arriving at her home and shooting her husband before attacking her while her son, four, hid.
In another case handed to war crimes investigators, Russian troops in Irpin reportedly raped a 15-year-old girl they held hostage for 10 days.
Ukrainian MPs have alleged more than 1,000 women have been subjected to sexual violence by Russian soldiers since the invasion began a month ago.
Leader of the country’s Golos party Kira Rudik said women and children were being subject to sexual violence and kidnapped by Russian soldiers.
“We are collecting all of the information regarding these crimes, so every single person who is involved with them will be prosecuted and justice will find every single criminal,” she told Times Radio.
“We see that these things are happening on the occupied territories. Russians...are taking women and children to Russia and they’re calling it their exchange pool. So then they will be able to exchange them for Russian soldiers.
“They’re doing it without any regret.
“There is no check mark on the war crimes list that Putin of his forces wouldn't have crossed. We will not be silent about that.”
