Russia is creating a hit list of Ukrainians that are to be “killed or sent to camps” ahead of a possible invasion, the U.S. representative to the United Nations’ European office has warned.
Bathsheba Nell Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to the Office of the U.N. and Other International Organizations in Geneva, made the assertions in a letter to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
“We are deeply concerned about Russia’s continuing human rights abuses in the parts of Ukraine it already occupies and have every reason to believe those concerns will multiply following a new military offensive,” Crocker wrote in the letter.
Crocker pointed to information that has been “recently obtained by the United States” that “indicates that human rights violations and abuses in the aftermath of a further invasion are being planned.”
“Specifically, we have credible information that indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation,” Crocker wrote. “We also have credible information that Russian forces will likely use lethal measures to disperse peaceful protests or otherwise counter peaceful exercises of perceived resistance from civilian populations.”
Crocker said such human rights violations and abuses would likely target “those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons.”
She said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the matter with the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 17. The United States also raised concerns about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans during a debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Dec. 15, Crocker said.
Spokespersons for the U.N. and the Press Office and Information Department of the Russian government didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
Crocker’s letter comes as the U.S. embassy in Moscow has warned Americans of potential terrorist attacks at public places in the country amid ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine.
In a security alert issued on Feb. 20, the embassy said “there have been threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations, and other public gathering places in major urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in areas of heightened tension along the Russian border with Ukraine.”
Officials cited anonymous media sources for the alleged threats of attacks, as Western officials have been warning for weeks that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day now.”
Russia has amassed up to 190,000 troops as well as heavy weapons near Ukraine’s borders, while simultaneously asking the United States and its allies to deny Ukraine and other former Soviet-bloc nations membership into NATO.
However, Putin denies that he has plans to invade Ukraine.
