WASHINGTON – The United States on Wednesday charged four pro-Russian soldiers with war crimes over the kidnapping and torture of an American citizen in Ukraine.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the charges against the four “Russia-linked service members” were the first brought under a U.S. war crimes law passed by Congress nearly 30 years ago.

Speaking to reporters, Garland said Russian troops in Ukraine had committed “atrocities on the largest scale of any armed conflict in Europe since World War II.”

“As the world witnessed the horrors of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, so did the U.S. Department of Justice,” he said. “The Justice Department will work as long as necessary to ensure accountability and justice for Russia’s war of aggression.”

According to the indictment, two of the defendants – Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, and Dmitry Budnik – were commanders of military units of the “Russian Armed Forces and/or the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.”

The other two defendants charged in the indictment in federal court in Virginia were low-ranking military personnel identified only by their first names: Valerii and Nazar.

The Justice Department said Mkrtchyan and the others kidnapped the U.S. citizen in April 2022 from his home in the village of Mylove in Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine, where he had been living with his wife.

Mock execution
The American, who was not identified, did not take part in the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement.

“On behalf of the Russian Armed Forces and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, these four individuals allegedly violated the human rights of an American citizen,” said Katrina Berger, deputy director of Homeland Security Investigations.

“According to the indictments, they unlawfully detained and tortured the American citizen, even going so far as to carry out a mock execution,” Berger said.

The American was held for at least ten days, repeatedly interrogated, threatened with sexual assault and tortured.

“Mkrtchyan, Valerii, Nazar and others allegedly threw the victim facedown on the ground while he was naked, tied his hands behind his back, pointed a gun at his head and brutally beat him,” the Justice Department said .

At some point, Budnik is said to have threatened to kill the victim and asked him for his last words.

“Shortly thereafter, Nazar and others allegedly carried out a mock execution,” the Justice Department said. “They allegedly forced the victim to the ground, held a gun to the back of his head, then moved the gun slightly and fired a bullet just past the victim’s head.”

The four are accused of three war crimes – unlawful detention, torture and inhumane treatment – and one count of conspiracy to commit war crimes.

If arrested and convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Garland told reporters that more charges are expected under the War Crimes Act, which gives the Justice Department jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes against U.S. citizens abroad.