Russian Official Condemns Ukraine For Initiating Criminal Proceedings Against Russian Investigators

A Russian Investigative Committee representative slammed Ukraine for initiating criminal proceedings against Russian investigators. Vladimir Markin said Thursday that the actions of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office proved that Ukraine was “going down the drain.”

Ukraine has decided to prosecute seven members of the Russian court and the Russian Investigative Committee. The prosecution is related to alleged violations in handling the case of former Ukraine army officer Nadezhda Savchenko, presently awaiting trial in Russia’s southern Rostov region.

"When helpless, peaceful civilians are burnt alive in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, when embassies are being stormed and journalists and clergymen killed and when calls to murder and incitement of interethnic hatred are being encouraged in the eyes of the whole world, and all this goes on with impunity -- then there is nothing to be surprised at," Markin told the Russian news agency Tass. "Instead of investigating all the mayhem which has been under way in Ukraine, they have raised a person /Nadezhda Savchenko/ responsible for the death of Russian nationals to the rank of hero."

Savchenko is accused of having been involved in killing two Russian journalists in Ukraine. She is also accused of illegally crossing the border with Russia. If proved guilty, the former pilot is likely to face up to 25 years in prison. Savchenko, however, dismisses the allegations against her.

Markin said that Ukraine’s actions were the result of “hatred and Russophobia,” a result of the “revolution of dignity.” He sarcastically said that the Ukrainian authorities were the “well-deserved followers of Stepan Bandera,” the controversial Ukrainian politician during its independence movement, who was strongly criticized by a number of ethnic Poles and Jews.