New Russian Human Rights Group Providing Most Accurate Ukraine Casualty Figures

The group, IGCP, was founded in February 2014 by popular Russian author, Alexander Dyukov, well-known in Russia for his 20th century histories, aimed at a broad audience.   

 

Dyukov is a specialist on neo-fascist movements in the Baltic States and the Ukraine, and according to him, he decided to found the group when the Ukraine crisis broke out in the beginning of the year, because he had a very good understanding of the mentality and intentions of the hard-core fascists that make up a large part of the ruling coalition in Kiev.  

 

Dyukov explains that he was convinced that these fascists would commit serious human rights violations in the Ukraine, and that somehow this had to be documented.   His fears turned out to be justified.

 

The group has made great efforts to create a reliable system for identifying and confirming human rights violations, so that its claims can be taken seriously by global human rights organizations.  It monitors websites and news reports of local Ukrainian authorities,  and then independently investigates each violation, searching in particular for independent confirmation from multiple original sources, and eyewitness accounts.  The Group has a staff of 10 analysts in Moscow monitoring and maintaining their website.

 

Some members of the group are also operating on the ground in Ukraine. They are in contact with civilians and make reports on their current living conditions.   Altogether IGCP has approximately 20 individuals involved in reporting violations.  Because of this network, and their careful vetting techniques, IGCP has been able to produce the most reliable statistics on killed and wounded in the Ukraine conflict.  They maintain a casualty count on their website.

 

According to Olesya Orlenko, an IGCP executive, the group is entirely a private initiative, and is primarily funded by contributions from wealthy individuals, mostly Russian, but also Ukrainian, and has no connection to any government or political organizations.  It makes great efforts to avoid political affiliations and bias.

 

IGCP reports on violations on both sides of the Ukraine conflict.  According to Orlenko, they are finding that about 80% of the violations are coming from the Ukrainian side, and 20% from the Eastern separatists.

 

IGCP has also published “White Books” detailing many of the crimes they have recorded.  The books are available in English, German and Russian, and can be downloaded from the IGCP website.

 

Dyukov has been the center of some controversy in the Baltic countries because he has been very outspoken in accusing their governments of white-washing fascist crimes from the WW2 era, and harboring unrepentant Nazis in contemporary life and politics.   The Baltic governments deny these charges, and Lithuania has declared Dyukov persona-non-grata, denying him entry into the country.  Estonia also recently detained Dyukov at Tallinn Airport, and denied entry, where he was traveling in order to attend a historical conference.

 

IGCP plans to continue its activity after the crisis ends.  It will seek to achieve justice for the victims by initiating legal proceedings in the Ukraine and EU, providing detailed evidence of crimes and human rights violations.   Their data-collection criteria reflect and anticipate legal requirements in European and Ukrainian institions.