The US Embassy in Ukraine denounced the existence of Russian “filtration camps”, an argument with which it compared today's events in Eastern Europe with what happened in Chechnya between the 1990s and the early years of the 21st century.
“Putin's (Russian President Vladimir)'s playbook does not change. In the filtration camps in Chechnya, Russia beat, tortured and executed civilians. We support Ukraine,” the Embassy said on its Twitter profile.
In that publication, they claimed that they were aware of the existence of these filtration camps based on information from the Mariupol authorities, who denounce that Russian troops are holding at least 20,000 residents in one of these camps.
Russian forces used filtration camps or filtration points (the official name) for their mass internment centers during the First Chechen Wars in 1994—1996 and then again during the Second Chechen War between 1999 and 2003
According to information from the US legation, the filtration camp would be located in the southwest of the port city. Similarly, between 5,000 and 7,000 residents are detained in the vicinity of Bezimenne and there are fears that they will be “deported” to Russia.
In this context, US President Joe Biden; NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg; European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen and nine other world leaders pledged on Tuesday to continue imposing “severe economic costs” on Russia for the war in Ukraine.
In a video conference, leaders also pledged to continue providing military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told the press. They also agreed to send more heavy artillery to Ukraine, according to Psaki.
In addition, the leaders condemned the suffering caused by the “unprovoked” and “unjustified” invasion of Russia and agreed to continue coordinating their efforts through the G7 and NATO.
In addition to Biden, Stoltenberg and Von der Leyen, the videoconference was attended by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel; the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Presidents of France, Emmanuel Macron; of Poland, Andrzej Duda; and of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.
Also in attendance were the Prime Ministers of Canada, Justin Trudeau; from the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson; from Italy, Mario Draghi, and from Japan, Fumio Kishida.
Russia has begun the second phase of its war in Ukraine, focused on the “complete liberation” of the pro-Russian Donbas in the east of the country, an operation that includes the final assault on the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol, the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the strategic port city.
Since its start on February 24, the war has left thousands dead and six million refugees, according to data from the United Nations this Tuesday.
(With information from EuropaPress and EFE)
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