Sexual crimes of Russian army during war are systematic policy of Russia, - Ministry of Defense
Sexual crimes committed by Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine prove that this is a systemic policy of Russia against the civilian population of Ukraine.
This was stated by Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform.
"The crimes of the Russian Federation are not only aggression in the literal sense but also a number of others, including sexual ones. ... They are, in fact, fighting against the civilian population ... Therefore, we are not just talking about sexual crimes, we are talking about acts of medieval brutality that our enemy shows against our civilian population," Maliar emphasized.
She noted that sexual crimes have their own specifics.
"If in peacetime we can simply characterize rape, and sexual violence as a sexual crime and, accordingly, the motivation there is the satisfaction of sexual passion, then in these circumstances it is also an act of domination of one army over others, it is an act of moral humiliation. This is done in order to demoralize society, to break our resistance, and therefore it is much broader than just sexual violence," explained the deputy minister.
In her opinion, sexual crimes are committed not only by the Russian military - it is a systematic action of the Russian state against the Ukrainian civilian population.
According to her, the Ministry of Defense has a group that investigates this category of crimes and collects the necessary data.
"We communicate with the military about this, and the Ministry of Defense has a group that works with our servicemen who have returned from captivity. Among them, 23% of women said that they know about facts of sexual violence against our citizens who were captured in enemy territory, and 15% of men know about it," said the representative of the Ministry of Defense.
