It took decades for Bosnian Serb leaders to be arrested and tried in time of war, and more than 7,000 people remain missing. However, the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia eventually convicted 83 high-ranking political and military officials and transferred a wealth of evidence against lower-ranking suspects to their countries of origin for prosecution. The perpetrators were collectively sentenced to more than 700 years in prison. Munira Subasic helped create the Srebrenica Mothers to demand that the bodies be located and that those responsible be brought to justice. To date, almost 90 per cent of those missing since the fall of Srebrenica have been recorded. They had to constantly confront people “who tried to hide the fact that our children never existed, who basically claimed that we were never mothers, that we never gave birth to anyone,” he said. “Russia’s denials of the massacres now being committed by its troops in Ukraine are apparently similar to the denials of the Srebrenica genocide,” Subasic said. “But if the survivors are persistent, the truth will prevail.”
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR: – “No tradition”: Ukrainians are fighting in the steel plant of Mariupol – Russia renews strikes in the capital of Ukraine, hits other cities – Syrian fighters ready to take part in the next phase of the war in Ukraine – Bosnians warn Ukrainians: It’s a long journey to justice – Mother, grandmother cry for 15-year-old killed by Kharkiv bombing Follow all the AP stories about the Russian war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: BEIRUT – Kremlin officials boasted early in their war against Ukraine that thousands of experienced Middle Eastern fighters would join Russian forces. Military analysts say only a small number appear to have arrived in Russia for training before deploying to the front lines, but say that could change as Russia prepares for a full-scale attack. US officials and activists monitoring Syria say the Russians are actively recruiting. Rami Abdurrahman heads the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He said about 40,000 people have so far enlisted in the Russian army and in the Wagner group, which is a Russian private contractor. Suwayda24’s Rayan Maarouf, a group of activists covering IS activities in the Syrian desert, said they had promised the fighters no less than $ 600 a month. This is a huge amount of money amid widespread unemployment in Syria. Analysts say fighters from Syria are more likely to deploy in the coming weeks, especially since General Alexander Dvornikov has been appointed commander of the war. Dvornikov is well aware of the paramilitary forces that Russia is training in Syria. Although some question how effective the Syrian fighters would be in Ukraine, they could be deployed if more forces were needed to besiege cities or make up for the growing losses.
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin says the barrage of Western sanctions against Russia has failed. Putin said on Monday that the West “expects to quickly reverse its financial situation, cause panic in the markets, collapse of the banking system and shortages in stores.” He added that “the economic blitz strategy has failed”. The Russian leader spoke in televised statements during a video conference with top financial officials. Putin noted that “Russia has withstood unprecedented pressure,” arguing that the ruble had strengthened and that the country had recorded a record high trade surplus of $ 58 billion in the first quarter of the year. Instead, he argued, sanctions against the United States and its European allies failed to accelerate inflation and lead to a decline in living standards. Putin acknowledged a sharp rise in consumer prices in Russia, saying they had risen 17.5 percent year-on-year since April, and urged the government to adjust wages and other payments to mitigate the impact of inflation on people’s incomes.
KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s deputy prime minister says Russia may be prosecuted for war crimes over its refusal to allow humanitarian corridors for civilians trapped in the city of Mariupol. Earlier Monday, Iryna Vereshchuk had said she could not be evacuated for a second day in a row due to Russian attacks on civilian convoys. “Your refusal to open these humanitarian corridors will in the future be a reason to prosecute all those involved in war crimes,” she wrote on her Telegram and Facebook channels. Verestsuk again called on Russia to allow the safe evacuation of civilians from Mariupol, especially the Azovstal steel plant, which covers more than 11 square kilometers (4 square miles) and is full of tunnels. According to Vereshchuk, the government was negotiating the passage through Mariupol and Berdyansk, among other cities, as well as through the Luhansk region. The Luhansk government said four civilians trying to flee the area had been shot dead by Russian forces. The Russians, in turn, have accused the “neo-Nazi nationalists” in Mariupol of obstructing the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol. __ KYIV, Ukraine – Ukraine’s State Security Service released a video of a Ukrainian politician being held for treason in exchange for the evacuation of trapped civilians in Mariupol, while two Britons who surrendered to Russian forces in Mariupol appeared in the Russian media. part of an exchange. The video of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party with personal ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was released on Monday. In it, he calls on Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider the exchange by name. Medvenchuk was arrested last Tuesday in a special operation carried out by the State Security Service of Ukraine or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch had escaped from house arrest several days before the outbreak of hostilities on February 24 in Ukraine. He faces up to 15 years in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a Russian-backed coal-mediated terrorist organization in the Donetsk Autonomous Republic in eastern Ukraine. The British identified themselves as Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin. In a video, Piner asked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to exchange. Piner had deep circles under his eyes and looked exhausted, but said he and Aslin were being treated appropriately. Ukrainian officials have said that Kyiv wants to try Medvedchuk and eventually exchange him for Ukrainian detainees. The conditions of the videos were unclear. The two videos were released within an hour of each other.
ROME – Italian officials will embark on an energy deal trip to Africa this week as part of an effort by Prime Minister Mario Draghi to quickly reduce the country’s heavy dependence on Russian gas, but will not go because it tested positive for COVID-19. The prime minister’s office, announcing the infection, said on Monday that Draghi had no symptoms. The mission to Angola and Congo, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, will see the government represented by the foreign and ecological transition ministers. Italy buys almost 40% of its gas from Russia. Draghi is determined to drastically reduce this dependence over the next two or three years, largely by concluding agreements with other energy-producing countries. Draghi recently traveled to Algeria to make such an agreement as part of the strategy.
BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has accused Ukraine’s secret services and an unknown European Union country of being behind a series of false bomb threats against Air Serbia flights to Russia. Serbia’s national carrier is the only European airline that has not been included in international sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine. Several of its flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg were delayed or had to return to Belgrade after anonymous bomb threats. In an interview with pro-government Pink TV late Sunday, Vuτςiτς said that “the foreign (intelligence) services of two countries are doing this. “One is an EU country and the other is Ukraine.” The pro-Russian Serb leader did not provide evidence for his claim. Other Serbian officials had claimed that the threatening e-mails had been sent either from Ukraine or Poland. Vuτςiτς said that although Air Serbia flights to Russia do not make a profit due to the frequent returns to their base in the Serbian capital, the flights will continue “in our beginning”.
MADRID – Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said Spain will reopen its embassy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in a few days. Following similar decisions by several European neighbors, Sanchez said the reopening would “reaffirm the commitment of the Spanish government and the Spanish people to the Ukrainian people.” “Spain is with Ukraine and we are against (Russian President Vladimir Putin) Putin,” Sanchez said in an interview with Spanish television station Antena 3. “This is Putin’s war against what the European Union stands for.” Spain closed the embassy within hours of the Russian invasion on February 24.
KYIV, Ukraine – Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said seven people were killed and another 11, including a child, were injured by Russian blows in the western Ukrainian city. Dozens of black smoke were seen by Associated Press reporters in Lviv rising above the city amid multiple explosions believed to have been caused by rocket fire. Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said there had been four Russian rocket attacks, three of which hit military installations and one hit a tire shop. He said emergency teams were putting out the fires. Oleksandr Kamyshin, chairman of the Ukrainian Railway Service, said that the strikes …
