US charges four Russia-affiliated soldiers with war crimes

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a meeting of the Reproductive Rights Task Force at the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., December 4, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. has charged four Russia-affiliated soldiers with war crimes against an American carried out during Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, in what the Justice Department described as the first-ever charges under the U.S. war crimes statute.

The 9-page war crime indictment against the four Russian men includes allegations of torture, inhuman treatment, conspiracy to commit war crimes and unlawful treatment of an American citizen.