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Lucas Ribeiro de Jesus has been accused of engaging in terrorist activities and torturing Russian POWs in Kursk Region
The Russian authorities are investigating Brazilian national Lucas Ribeiro de Jesus for war crimes committed in Kursk Region while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces as a mercenary, several Russian media outlets reported on Wednesday. The suspect is currently at large.
Kiev staged its surprise offensive into the Russian region in early August in the hope of diverting Moscow’s forces from elsewhere along the front line. Ukrainian officials also said they expected to use parts of the occupied territory as a bargaining chip in potential peace negotiations. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has reportedly ordered his military to hold on to the captured territory at all costs until US President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated next month.
On Wednesday, several Russian media outlets quoted the Investigative Committee as saying that it had opened a criminal investigation into de Jesus. “He is suspected of being a mercenary and carrying out a terrorist attack in Kursk Region,” the authorities announced, as quoted by TASS. He is also accused of torturing and killing two Russian POWs.
Russian investigators determined that the Brazilian citizen illegally crossed the Russian border back in September along with Ukrainian troops and other foreign fighters.
According to the statement cited by the press, the Investigating Committee “is taking steps toward locating the suspect and his accomplices.”
Last Tuesday, a court in Russia sentenced in absentia New Zealand national Jordan O’Brien to 14 years in prison for his involvement in the Ukrainian operation in Kursk Region as a mercenary. Russian authorities accused Kiev’s forces of committing criminal actions including killing civilians there.
Late last month, the Supreme Court of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic similarly handed down lengthy jail terms in absentia to two US citizens, Charles Albert Carter and Palma Vajari Moises Urbina, who have been accused of taking part in the Ukraine conflict on Kiev’s side.
The Prosecutor General’s Office in Moscow stated that it was seeking the men’s arrest through international warrants.
Russian media reported earlier that a 22-year-old British national who had previously served as a signalman in the UK military was captured in Kursk Region. Several video clips emerged purportedly showing the interrogation of the individual, who was identified as James Scott Rhys Anderson.
