WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – The US government is imposing entry bans on two Russian military officers for involvement in “serious human rights violations”. The measure affects, on the one hand, Asatbek Omurbekov, who is known as the “Butcher of Bucha,” the US State Department announced on Monday. The US government accuses him of “extrajudicial killings of unarmed Ukrainian civilians” in the village of Andriyivka in eastern Ukraine. He also led his unit to Butscha, where they “killed, beat, dismembered, burned civilians and carried out mock executions.”
The European Union had also already imposed sanctions on Omurbekov because of his “direct responsibility for killings, rape and torture” in the Kiev suburb of Bucha.
The US government has placed another guard corporal, Daniil Frolkin, on the sanctions list because of the killings in Andriyivka. “The reports that Omurbekov and Frolkin were involved in serious human rights violations, as documented by nongovernmental organizations and independent investigations, are serious and credible,” the US State Department said.
As a result of the sanctions, Omurbekov, Frolkin and their immediate family members can no longer enter the United States. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US government has imposed numerous sanctions against Moscow, Russian institutions or allies of the Kremlin leader Wladimir Putin imposed. This also includes the Russian military unit that is held responsible for the atrocities in Bucha./nau/DP/zb