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One of Vladimir Putin’s most significant officers has vowed to testify against the Russian president.
Igor Salikov is a former colonel of the Russian Defense Ministry’s military intelligence service (GRU), who also previously worked a senior instructor within the Wagner Group.
The former Redut commander, according to Dutch public broadcaster NPO1, has opted to testify about Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Reports say Salikov witnessed “false flag operations” in Donbas and “atrocities against civilians” including the torture and execution of prisoners of war.
Other crimes he claims to have seen included the kidnapping of children who were “transported across the border to Belarus”.
Salikov left Russia alongside his family in June 2022, flying to South Africa’s Cape Town and then on to the Netherlands. He now intends to seek political asylum.
During an interview with the Dutch broadcaster, the 60-year-old said: “I have seen people from the secret services take large numbers of children without parents across the border into Belarus.”
POLITICO reported that Salikov said the alleged war crimes were carried out on the orders of the Ministry – as well as coming directly from Putin’s offices.
Back in March an arrest warrant was issued for Putin by the ICC over the claims regarding the transfer of children to Russia after the country invaded Ukraine.
Kyiv and other European and Western allies have continued to push for a tribunal in order to investigate Russia’s “crimes of aggression” during the war.
According to Salikov, he left Russia after refusing to carry out an order to execute civilians and that he had “lost faith in the Russian cause”.
It comes as Putin announced he was willing to talk about a peace deal – a claim Western officials believe will only happen after the US presidential election in November.
Putin told his closet allies in a meeting: “In Ukraine, those who are aggressive towards Russia, and in Europe and in the United States – do they want to negotiate?
“Let them. But we will do it based on our national interests. We will not give up what is ours.”
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