KIEV: Ukrainian state prosecutors said on Tuesday they had opened a criminal investigation against a Russian law enforcement agency, accusing it of supporting separatist and “terrorist” groups in the east of the country.
The move appeared to be a tit-for-tat response to a criminal case launched yesterday by Russia against “unidentified representatives of Ukraine’s senior political and military leadership”, National Guard and nationalist organisations, in which it accused them of committing “genocide”.
The two legal investigations will further ratchet up tensions between the two ex-Soviet neighbours and put pressure on a ceasefire agreed on September 5 between Kiev’s forces and pro-Russian separatists that has been marred by daily skirmishes and artillery shelling.
In a statement, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said it had opened a criminal investigation against officials of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, a law enforcement body that answers only to President Vladimir Putin.
The statement accused the Russian officials of “carrying out illegal interference” in the work of Ukraine’s law enforcement bodies and armed forces. (PTI)