A Finnish court sentenced Russian national Yan Petrovsky to life imprisonment for war crimes in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The ruling found his paramilitary unit responsible for the killing of an injured soldier and other offences. Petrovsky denied the charges and intends to appeal.
A Finnish court sentenced a Russian man to life imprisonment on Friday for war crimes committed in 2014 in eastern Ukraine, where his paramilitary unit was found to have been involved in the killing of an injured soldier.
The trial of Yan Petrovsky, also known as Voislav Torden, was a rare instance of foreign prosecutors addressing war crimes linked to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow supported before the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Born in 1987, Petrovsky was convicted on four out of five charges related to his activities in Ukraine's Luhansk province, part of the Donbass industrial region.
The court identified him as a member of Rusich, a paramilitary unit linked to the Russian Wagner group. He has been under European Union and U.S. sanctions since 2022.
He was found guilty on four counts, including the actions of his unit that led to the death of a wounded Ukrainian soldier, the mutilation of another, and the taking and publishing of degrading images of deceased soldiers.
"A fixed-term prison sentence was not an adequate punishment," the court stated in its verdict.
Petrovsky was detained in Finland at Ukraine’s request in 2023 while attempting to travel to France using a false identity. Finland’s supreme court later blocked his extradition to Ukraine.
One charge was dismissed, with the court ruling that there was insufficient evidence to prove that Petrovsky’s Rusich unit had organised and carried out an ambush while posing as Ukrainian forces, which resulted in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers. However, it determined that Rusich fighters had been present.
Petrovsky denied all charges and intends to appeal, his lawyer confirmed.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday (24 October) that trade talks with Washington are progressing well. She declined to comment on U.S....
Between January and September this year, a total of 30.5 million tonnes of oil was transported via the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipel...
The French Socialist Party which holds a swing position in the hung parliament has threatened to trigger a no-confidence motion on Monday....
Chinese and US. officials are holding trade talks in Malaysia this week, seeking to stabilise relations between both countries ahead of the highly ant...
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed his country’s agreement with Tehran’s plans to host the summit meeting of the Caspian Sea ...
A planned meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, was abruptly cancelled this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb finalised an agreement on Thursday, for the U.S. Coast Guard to acquire up to 11 icebreaker ships, enhancing U.S. national security in the Arctic.
Finland is closely watching Russia’s ongoing Zapad-2025 military exercises in Russia, Belarus, and the Baltic and Barents Seas, Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) commander Janne Jaakkola said on Monday.
The captain and two officers of an oil tanker accused of severing five undersea power and telecoms cables when their vessel left Russia and sailed through the Gulf of Finland in late 2024 will stand trial in Helsinki on Monday.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Snapchat will start charging users who store more than 5GB of photos and videos in its Memories feature, prompting backlash from long-time users.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has condemned U.S. military operations against vessels in the Caribbean, which have resulted in dozens of deaths and heightened tensions in the region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump have not ruled out the possibility of a future summit.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday (24 October) that trade talks with Washington are progressing well. She declined to comment on U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to halt negotiations with Canada over Ontario’s anti-tariff advertisement.
The French Socialist Party which holds a swing position in the hung parliament has threatened to trigger a no-confidence motion on Monday.
Chinese and US. officials are holding trade talks in Malaysia this week, seeking to stabilise relations between both countries ahead of the highly anticipated Trump - Xi meeting in South Korea next week.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment