Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine, where he reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to assist Ukrainian officials in pursuing war criminals.
- Garland traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, Friday at the invitation of the Ukrainian prosecutor general, Justice Department officials said, adding that the trip was not previously disclosed because of "security" reasons.
- Holding Russia accountable: "The Attorney General held several meetings and reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor," Justice officials said.
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Garland told senators earlier this week that DOJ is helping Ukraine war crimes investigations
Earlier this week, Garland told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Justice Department officials have been actively supporting counterparts in Ukraine with investigations of suspected war crimes.
Garland told lawmakers that U.S. “forensic agents are on the ground now” assisting Ukrainian investigators and he had met multiple times previously with Ukraine’s prosecutor general to discuss needed support.
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Garland called Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russian mercenary unit Wagner Group, a 'war criminal'
Asked for his assessment of the so-called Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary unit operating within Ukraine, Garland did not hold back, especially describing the group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“Mr. Prigozhin, who runs this thing, is in my opinion a war criminal,” Garland told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “Maybe that’s an inappropriate thing for me to say as a judge before getting all the evidence. But I think we have more than sufficient evidence for me to feel that way.”
Sens. Blumenthal, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., have been leading an effort to formally declare the Wagner Group a foreign terrorist organization.
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Garland last visited Ukraine in June, when he announced a war crimes accountability team
Garland last traveled to Ukraine in June, when he announced the formation of a War Crimes Accountability Team within the Justice Department to provide legal counsel and expertise in evidence collection and forensics.
At that time, the attorney general named Eli Rosenbaum to lead the special unit who previously directed the department's Office of Special Investigations, primarily responsible for identifying, denaturalizing, and deporting Nazi war criminals.
"There is no hiding place for war criminals," Garland said then. “Working alongside our domestic and international partners, the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable every person complicit in the commission of war crimes, torture, and other grave violations during the unprovoked conflict in Ukraine."
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