Former Russian intelligence colonel comes to Netherlands to testify in ICC

Igor Salikov, a 60-year-old former Russian intelligence colonel who was involved in Russia's aggression against Ukraine, fled to the Netherlands and expressed his desire to testify in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Source: Salikov in an interview for the EenVandaag programme by the Dutch NPO 1 public channel, as reported by European Pravda Details: Salikov claims that at first he served 25 years in the Russian army, and then served in the Wagner Private Military Company and fought in Syria and several African countries on its side.

He was also involved in Russia's aggression against Ukraine first in 2014, and then in 2022.

He wrote a letter to the ICC in which he confessed his involvement in the annexation of Crimea and the activity of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), mainly falsifying the results at the so-called referendum. He thinks that the Russian forces then were persuaded to invade Ukraine "fraudulently". Salikov also revealed that he was a witness of Russian war crimes after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, specifically executions of civilians, torturing of prisoners of war and kidnapping of children.

"I saw how the people from special services were deporting many children without their parents through the Belarusian border," Salikov said, adding that "entire columns of FSB agents on private vehicles and small buses" were involved in this. However, he does not know the reason for the kidnapping. Salikov stated that he managed to leave Russia in June 2022 together with his family and for some time settle down in Cyprus where they were allegedly being persecuted.

Finally he fled to the Netherlands through Serbia and other countries and on Monday, 18 December, landed in the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. There, he expressed his desire to testify in the ICC. Salikov states that he can provide the court in The Hague with valuable testimony about Russia's war crimes and how the decisions to commit these crimes were taken.

So far it is unknown where exactly Salikov is, as he was detained by the police at the airport, and whether the ICC was informed about his request. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine there have been several cases when the military fled from Russia, demonstrating their unwillingness to participate in the aggression, and readiness to testify about war crimes. For instance, within the course of 2023, Dmitry Mishov, pilot of the Russian Air Force, and Ivan Korolyov, a Russian lieutenant, arrived in Lithuania and sought political asylum.

Last winter, Andrei Medvedev, former commander of Wagner Group, fled to Norway, but later changed his mind and claimed he wanted to return to Russia.

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