Russian to face trial in Finland accused of war crimes in Ukraine in 2014

A Russian man is to stand trial in Finland charged with having committed war crimes in Ukraine in 2014, Finland's National Prosecution Authority said on Thursday.

The trial of Yan Petrovsky, who also goes under the name Voislav Torden, is expected to begin on Dec. 5 and last until the end of January 2025, the Helsinki district court said.

Petrovsky, who has been under European Union and U.S. sanctions since 2022, denies the charges, his lawyer Heikki Lampela told Reuters.

The charges against him are related to activities in the Rusich paramilitary unit that fought against Ukraine on the side of Russia-backed separatists in Luhansk region in 2014, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Much of Luhansk has been occupied since 2014, when Russian-financed separatists took over swathes of territory in eastern Ukraine after large protests prompted Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country and Moscow's forces seized the Crimea peninsula.

Petrovsky is suspected of being the deputy commander of the unit and participating in acts that violate the laws of war, the prosecutor said.

He and the unit's soldiers are accused of killing a total of 22 Ukrainian soldiers and seriously wounding four, the statement said.

Deputy prosecutor general Jukka Rappe, who made the decision to press charges, told Reuters the trial would, among other material, include video recordings of events that took place in Ukraine in 2014 and consider the testimony of survivors.

Petrovsky, who was born in 1987, was detained in Finland in July 2023 after he entered the country.

Finland's supreme court in December last year blocked the extradition of Petrovsky to Ukraine, citing the risk of inhumane prison conditions there. A Ukrainian court had issued an arrest warrant for him on suspicion of participating in a terrorist organisation in Ukraine.