Attorney General Garland: Good morning.
I am joined today by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director
Chris Wray, Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of Virginia Jessica Aber, and ICE Acting Deputy Director Staci Barrera.
Also here are Eli Rosenbaum, the head of the Department’s War Crimes Accountability
Team, Christian Levesque, Lead Prosecutor for the War Crimes Accountability Team,
and David Sundberg, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office.
On February 24, 2022, Russia commenced its full-scale, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
In the nearly two years since, we have all seen invading Russian forces commit atrocities
on the largest scale in any European armed conflict since the Second World War.
We have all heard the accounts of Ukrainian civilians targeted and executed,
Ukrainian children forcibly deported, and Ukrainian women and girls sexually assaulted.
And as the world has witnessed the horrors of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, so has
the United States Department of Justice. That is why the Justice Department has filed
the first ever charges under the U.S. war crimes statute against four Russia-affiliated
military personnel for heinous crimes against an American citizen. Congress passed the U.S.
war crimes statute nearly 30 years ago to give us jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes
committed against American citizens abroad. In an indictment returned yesterday
in the Eastern District of Virginia, we have charged four Russia-affiliated military
personnel with war crimes against an American citizen living in Ukraine. The charges include
conspiracy to commit war crimes, including war crimes outlawed by the international community
after World War II — unlawful confinement, torture, and inhuman treatment.
Like all defendants in the U.S. criminal justice system, the defendants in
this case are entitled to due process of law and are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
We allege that in April of 2022, two commanding officers of Russia-affiliated forces, Suren
Seiranovich Mkrtchyan and Dmitry Budnik, as well as two lower-ranking soldiers,
whose first names are Valerii and Nazar, committed war crimes against an American citizen
who had been living in Ukraine since 2021. That victim was living in Mylove, a small village
in Southern Ukraine, and was not participating in the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. As
such, the victim was what is known as a “protected person,” under international law.
After Russian forces invaded Mylove, the victim was abducted from his home
by three of the defendants — Mkrtchyan, who was one of the commanding officers,
and Valerii and Nazar, the lower-ranking soldiers — and their co-conspirators.
During the abduction, we allege that those defendants threw the victim to the ground while
he was naked, tied his hands behind his back, pointed a gun at his head, and beat him with their
feet, their fists, and the stocks of their guns. We allege that they forced him into a
building that Russia-affiliated forces were using as a jail, and into a closet
that they were using as a jail cell. We allege that, as they interrogated him, they
tortured him. They beat him, again, with a gun. They punched him in his chest and stomach.
They threatened to shoot him. They stripped off his clothes and took pictures. One of their
conspirators threatened to sexually assault him. And during the interrogation, when the victim’s
answers did not satisfy the defendants, we allege that Budnik, who was also
a commanding officer, threatened the victim with death and asked for his last words.
We allege that Nazar and other co-conspirators then took the victim outside. There, they
forced him to the ground and put a gun to the back of his head. The victim
believed he was about to be killed. They moved the gun just before pulling
the trigger, and the bullet went past his head. After the mock execution, the victim was
beaten and interrogated again. At one point, he was told through an interpreter that he was
“going to sleep,” and he was told by Mkrtchya: “goodnight” — leading the victim to believe,
again, that he was about to be killed. During his 10 days detained by Russia-affiliated
forces, the victim in this case was tortured, threatened with sexual assault and
execution, forced to perform manual labor, and beaten in the head, chest, and stomach with
the soldiers’ feet, their fists, and their guns. Again and again, he believed he was going to die.
These charges against four Russia-affiliated military personnel are the Justice Department’s
first criminal charges under the U.S. war crimes statute. They are also an important step toward
accountability for the Russian regime’s illegal war in Ukraine. Our work is far from done.
I want to recognize the Criminal Division, including the Human Rights and Special
Prosecutions Section and the War Crimes Accountability Team, the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Eastern District of Virginia, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security,
including Homeland Security Investigations. Their diligent and skillful work is what
made these historic charges possible. I also want to recognize the incredible courage
of our partners in Ukraine, specifically our counterparts in the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s
Office. In the midst of war, Ukrainian prosecutors and investigators have risked their lives
to pursue justice for the Ukrainian people. We are honored to stand alongside them.
Finally, I want to recognize our partners in the international community.
We will continue to work closely alongside them to gather evidence and build
cases so that when the time comes, the United States and our partners will be ready to ensure
accountability for Russia’s war of aggression. This is an historic day for the Justice
Department that builds on a long history. The War Crimes Accountability Team
prosecuting this case is modeled in part on the Justice Department’s decades-long
effort to identify, denaturalize, and deport Nazi war criminals in the United States.
During that effort, the Department’s Office of Special Investigations brought more than
130 cases against perpetrators of Nazi crimes. In the vast majority of those cases, the
perpetrators were not identified until decades after they committed their horrific crimes.
This history should make clear that the Justice Department — and the American people
— have a long memory. We will not forget the atrocities in Ukraine. And we will never stop
working to bring those responsible to justice. Throughout our work, we will continue
to put our trust in the rule of law. The rule of law is the best answer we have
to crimes that cannot truly be answered. The rule of law is how we pursue true
accountability for the individuals responsible for those crimes, and how we deter future aggression.
And the rule of law is how we pursue justice in a way that protects people, and
protects our shared humanity. I am now honored to turn the
podium over to Secretary Mayorkas. Secretary Mayorkas: Thank you very
much, Attorney General Garland. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security
and its Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, created the Human Rights Violators and War
Crimes Center – the only U.S. government entity focused entirely on investigating these global
atrocities. For 15 years, this select group of special agents, attorneys, intelligence
analysts, criminal research specialists, and historians from across the federal government
have worked together and with their international counterparts to hold those who engage in the
perpetration of war crimes, genocide, torture, and other human rights violations accountable.
Today, an investigation more than a year in the making by this Center and its federal
partners bears fruit. For the first time in our nation’s history, federal agents
gathered sufficient evidence to bring charges of war crimes perpetrated against an
American citizen – in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 2441.
The allegations… detail gruesome events. The agents who made this case possible
were tireless in their investigation, giving extraordinary attention to every detail,
and making considerable sacrifices throughout. In August 2022, these HSI agents
traveled with their DOJ and FBI partners to speak with an American citizen
who had recently been evacuated from Ukraine, where he had been living with his wife.
The U.S. citizen told our HSI agents how, a few months earlier, he had been violently
abducted from his home in the village of Mylove by members of the Russian armed forces.
He told HSI investigators… that these Russians had stripped him naked, threw him face down
to the ground, tied his hands behind his back, pointed a gun at his head, and severely beat
him, including with the stocks of their guns. The Russian soldiers then took him to a nearby
Russian military compound and held him there illegally for 10 days. He reported that, while
in forced captivity, he was subjected to two interrogation sessions, during which he was
tortured by the four defendants named today. He reported that the Russian defendants had
again stripped him naked, photographed him, and severely beat him about the chest and stomach.
One defendant staged a mock execution of him. After asking for the victim’s last words,
one of the defendants named today forced the victim to the ground, put a gun to the back
of his head, and pulled the trigger – purposely missing the victim’s head by mere inches.
Throughout this past year, our HSI agents, with the assistance of HSI’s Human Rights Violators and
War Crimes Center and alongside our FBI partners, have worked to corroborate the victim’s
allegations. They traveled internationally to interview the victim’s family. They identified and
interviewed individuals who were present within the general vicinity of Mylove around the time
the victim was held in captivity, who confirmed the Russian forces’ occupation in the area.
Based on the information they obtained, the HSI agents and their FBI partners were
able to identify the four defendants whose indictments are announced today.
I am extraordinarily proud of these federal law enforcement agents. Thanks to
their exceptional work, the United States will hold the Russian perpetrators of
this unthinkable mistreatment, these unacceptable human rights violations, accountable.
The work of these agents, and the indictments unsealed today, speak to two fundamental truths.
First: there is no higher responsibility of government than to safeguard its people
and their basic human rights. As today’s announcement makes clear, when an American
citizen’s human rights are violated, their government will spare no effort, and spare no
resources, to bring the perpetrators to justice. Second: the evidence gathered by our agents speaks
to the brutality, criminality, and depravity of Russia’s invasion. The Ukrainian people have
had, and must continue to have, America’s full support against Russia’s unjust, unprovoked, and
unlawful war of aggression. We cannot allow such horrific crimes to be ignored; to do so would
only increase the risk they will be repeated. It is now my honor to introduce
Chris Wray, the Director of the FBI. Director Wray: Thanks Ali. Good morning everyone.
The FBI's mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution here at
home and around the world and today together with our partners we are once again fulfilling
that mission. The charges unsealed just a few minutes ago reveal absolutely unconscionable
crimes including unlawful confinement torture and other inhumane acts committed against one of
our own citizens by four individuals affiliated with the Russian military. That American, like
so many others, became a victim of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine which continues
to wreak unimaginable tragedy on the region. Caught in the crossfire of a war he had no part
in this American was tormented for days at the hands of these defendants and today's indictment
demonstrates our commitment to our mission and our resolve to seek Justice for all Americans
even amidst the fog of war. Though today marks the first time the war crimes Act of 1996 has been
charged in U.S. history this is certainly not the first time the FBI has investigated war crimes
and held perpetrators accountable. Cases like this one are among the most complex the FBI works
but bringing them is essential to deterring crimes like these and showing would be perpetrators that
no one is above the law and that war crimes will not go unpunished. I want to thank all the
men and women of the FBI who supported this investigation including those in our Washington
Field Office, the International Human Rights Unit within our Criminal Investigative Division at FBI
headquarters, our legal attaché offices in Kiev, Warsaw, and Moscow, and our victim services
personnel. They have all played crucial roles in this investigation. The charges we're announcing
today would not have been possible without our valued partners both within the U.S. Government
and our allies overseas. So I also want to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to our
colleagues who work these cases at the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security
for their collaboration and partnership. No agency can do this alone, this is a team effort and I
am confident that because of the partnerships on display here today we have achieved a team victory
not just for this victim and for the American people but for justice around the world. For
decades the FBI has been working to keep Americans safe from the many threats that Russia poses
whether it's human rights abuses like those laid out in today's indictment, espionage targeting the
U.S. Government and our most sensitive information by Russian intelligence services that have not
been shy about even murdering those they dislike worldwide. Cyber attacks against our critical
infrastructure and the hopes of bringing our daily lives to a halt or transnational repression
through which the Russian government tries to silence its critics on our own soil. But no matter
the threat, no matter how heinous the crimes, the FBI will be there to protect US citizens,
and as you can see from today's announcement we will work relentlessly to bring criminals to
justice no matter how long or how far that work may take us. Thank you. And now I'll turn it over
to Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri. Acting Attorney General Argentieri:
Thank you, Director Wray. The charges announced today — the first under the
federal war crimes statute — are historic. The Department of Justice is holding accountable four
Russia-affiliated military personnel who committed war crimes in the course of Russia’s unlawful
full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As alleged in the indictment, the defendants abducted, beat,
and threatened to kill an American national. They even conducted a mock execution.
These charges send a clear message: the Criminal Division will pursue those who commit
war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine. We are committed to bringing war criminals to justice
— no matter where they are located — for brutal acts committed against Americans.
Last year, Attorney General Garland announced the launch of the War Crimes
Accountability Team — led by prosecutors from the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and
Special Prosecutions Section — to strengthen the department’s response to the atrocities being
committed in Ukraine and to hold perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine accountable. These charges
were brought as part of that critical mandate. Those who would act with impunity should think
twice — when we identify perpetrators of war crimes and the evidence supports charges,
the Criminal Division will take action. This case is the result of the strong
collaboration between our War Crimes Accountability Team, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and our key law enforcement partners: FBI and
Homeland Security Investigations. Together, they have worked with great skill and tenacity to bring
this historic criminal prosecution, emblematic of our collective resolve and commitment to
holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable. I would also like to express my immense gratitude
to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine for their substantial assistance in this
investigation, and for their continued resolve to uphold the rule of law even in the
face of an active invasion and ongoing war. And now it is my pleasure to
turn it over to Jessica Aber, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of
Virginia, who has been an outstanding partner. U.S. Attorney Aber: Thank you Acting Assistant
Attorney General Argentieri. Good morning. Yesterday as noted a federal grand jury in
the Eastern District of Virginia returned an indictment charging four individuals with
four counts of war crimes in connection with the abduction and torture of a U.S. national
in Ukraine last year. And as alleged in the indictments defendants Mkrtchyan, Budnik, Valerii,
and Nazar were soldiers affiliated with the Russian Armed Forces fighting on behalf of Russia
in the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The victim in this case as we've heard was a
civilian non-combatant who lived in the village of Mylove in Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine.
Per the indictment on April 2nd 2022 just last year the defendants allegedly abducted the victim
from his home in Mylove and took him to facilities functioning as a Russian Armed Forces controlled
compound. The defendants and their co-conspirators are alleged to have held the victim against his
will for approximately 10 days and during that time the defendants and their co-conspirators
allegedly beat, tortured, and interrogated the victim using brutal and unlawful methods including
as we've heard striking him with their fists, their feet, their guns, threatening sexual
violence, holding a knife to his throat, and forcing him to endure his own mock execution.
As alleged the defendants certainly intended to inflict severe physical and mental pain and
suffering upon the victim with their actions so these four defendants are charged in the Eastern
District of Virginia with conspiracy to commit war crimes and war crimes alleging unlawful
confinement of our protected person, torture, and inhuman treatment. These charges reflect that
the defendants alleged actions are not only grave breaches of the Geneva Convention relative to the
protection of civilian persons in time of war, but also violations of United States law.
We at the Eastern District of Virginia are proud to stand with the Criminal Division as
part of the Department of Justice's efforts to hold perpetrators of war crimes violations
accountable in Ukraine and elsewhere and we will continue to pursue them. We do want
to thank our investigative partners in this case. The War Crimes Accountability
Team, the FBI Washington Field Office, and Homeland Security investigations for their
outstanding efforts to gather evidence required for these complex and novel charges. Thank you I
will now turn this over to Staci Barrera from ICE. Acting Deputy Director Barrera: Thank you.
Good morning I'm Acting Deputy Director Staci Barrera for U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. As many of you know Homeland Security Investigations is a directorate of ICE and the
principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. Our special agents in
Washington, D.C. and those with HIS’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center worked
closely with FBI and the Justice Department's Criminal Division to unravel the information that
brought us here today. I'm extremely proud of the work done by HSI along with FBI to secure these
indictments. HSI cannot and will not stand by as war criminals commit heinous acts like those
alleged in this case. Our agency will continue to do what it takes and that means everything
within our extensive legal authorities and investigative capabilities to find and prosecute
people who terrorize innocent victims under the pretext of war. We will continue to hold war
criminals accountable by putting them behind bars. We're committed to making an example
of criminals who violate international and U.S. laws just as we are doing in this case to
prevent others from going down the same path. With that said I'd like to extend my most sincere
thanks to the FBI and the Department of Justice for their partnership. To Secretary Mayorkas for
his unwavering support of HSI and ICE and all the hardworking HSI personnel who have put in hundreds
of hours piecing this case together. Thank you. Glenn Thrush, NYT: Two questions, one on-topic,
one slightly off. How many more of these can we expect? You said, I think during your visit
to Ukraine earlier this year that you were investigating a number of cases. Should we
expect anything more in the coming months? Attorney General Garland: So, I
can't get into too many details. But this is our first, and
you should expect more, yes. Glenn Thrush, NYT: On an unrelated topic, the
Speaker of the House yesterday in announcing the release of video taken from January 6th said
that he had blurred some of the faces because he was concerned that the Justice Department and
FBI would prosecute individuals potentially. Do you think that was an appropriate thing
for him to say, and you have any response? Attorney General Garland: Look the Justice
Department only prosecutes those people we believe commit crimes. I am extremely proud of the men and
women of the Department who are working every day to hold accountable those who committed crimes
on January 6th. They will continue to do so. Glenn Thrush, NYT: Do you think it’s appropriate, though, for a constitutional officers, such as
the Speaker of the House, to essentially say that he didn't want the identities of people
shown so that they couldn't be prosecuted? Attorney General Garland: All I can
speak for is this constitutional officer, and that is we will prosecute
people who commit crimes. David Spunt, Fox: First for you,
Attorney General Garland and then for Director Wray. This is your
first war crimes charge. You said there would be more. Where are you
on war crimes relating to Hamas? Attorney General Garland: Look,
so Hamas murdered more than 30 Americans and kidnapped more during their
terrorist attack on October 7th. We are investigating those heinous crimes, and
we will hold those people accountable. David Spunt, Fox: For Director Wray, if I may ask,
sir, slightly off topic but relating to security. You talked about 702 in FISA yesterday. Speaker
Johnson, as Glenn mentioned, Speaker Johnson announced that it would not be continued as
part of the NDAA. What is the Department of Justice? Do? What does the FBI do now that you're
really up against the clock here of December 31st? Attorney General Garland: I'll start, and then
I'll turn it over to the Director. Every morning, I get a all threats briefing along with
the FBI and the National Security Division intelligence community. Much of that briefing
comes from information derived from section 702. If we don't have 702, we will not
be able to protect the American people, particularly in light of what happened on
October 7th and the ensuing increase in the threat tempo, I'll let the Director say more. Director Wray: So, I'm not going to comment
here on the sort of particularities of the legislative process itself. But what I will
say is the whole point of Section 702 is to protect Americans from foreign threats. And
702 is indispensable in our ability to protect Americans from foreign terrorism, foreign
cyberattacks, foreign hostile intelligence operations. And the idea that we would let an
indispensable tool like that lapse or frankly, amended in a way that gutted its effectiveness,
in my view would be a grave mistake, and I fear, that we would all live to regret it.
Pierre Thomas, ABC: General Garland, hopefully, the victim in this case is doing okay in regard
to the allegations of torture. Any evidence that senior officials at the Kremlin were aware of,
or directed, the military officials in Russia to do this kind of activity? And does the American
law allow for the prosecution of heads of state? Attorney General Garland: I'm going let
our Acting Assistant Attorney General, who's in charge of the War Crimes
Accountability Team, answer that question. Pierre Thomas, ABC: And then I have
a question for the Director as well. Acting Assistant Attorney General
Argentieri: Unfortunately, I can't go beyond what the legend the indictment
as to the pending investigation in the case. As to the war crime statute, we,
I think we would have to look at that. Pierre Thomas, ABC: Director Wray, you have
described the terror environment, the threat environment. Could you give us a sense of compared
to last year, the number of investigations, terror-related investigations, that you had
last year compared to what they are now? Director Wray: So, I would say a couple
things. First, even before October 7th, we assessed that the terrorism landscape, the
terrorism threat really across the spectrum from homegrown or jihadist-inspired violent extremism
to domestic violent extremism to foreign terrorist organizations, to state-sponsored terrorist
attacks was elevated. But post-October 7th, it's gone up to a whole other level. And the
reason I say that is a number of things. First, the rate in which we are getting reports of
threats, tips, leads has gone up dramatically. I can't give you an actual number, but I can tell
you it's a very significant increase. Just hate hate crimes alone, for example, we have opened,
I think, 60% more hate crimes in the comparable period post-October 7th than before October 7th.
And so, the volume of reported threats has been up significantly. Second, we've seen, as I think
I testified to, a veritable rogue's gallery of foreign terrorist organizations all calling for
attacks in a way that we haven't seen in quite some time. So, you put those things together, and
our most immediate concern is that we will have inspired attacks here in the U.S. And of course,
we're also worried that there could be down the road directed attacks against the U.S. We've
already had post-October 7th arrests in Houston, in LA, in Tampa, Arizona, you know, a whole series
of places, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. So, this is not a
time for panic. But it is a time for vigilance, and people should make no mistake that we are in
a more dangerous time than we've been in a while.
