Yury Abaev. Photo: Sergey Menyaylo’s Telegram channel
Yury Abaev, a Russian veteran accused of shooting Ukrainian prisoners of war, has been appointed Minister of Labour and Social Development in the republic of North Ossetia in the North Caucasus, the republic’s head Sergey Menyaylo announced on Tuesday.
Noting that Vladimir Putin had “set a clear task” for the authorities to form a team of officials who have “proven that they are ready to stand for the country to the end”, Menyaylo said Abaev was just the right person for the job, adding: “As his mentor, I know what he is capable of. I am sure he will do well.”
In June 2024, based on intercepted radio transmissions, Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence accused Abaev and three other Russian soldiers of shooting four unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war in May of the same year in the village of Robotyne, in Ukraine’s southwestern Zaporizhzhia region.
Abaev, deputy commander of the 70th Guards Motorised Rifle Regiment, who was named Hero of Russia in February 2024 on Putin’s orders, participated in A Time of Heroes, a programme aimed at offering career advancement to a new Russian elite made up of Ukraine war veterans, independent news outlet IStories wrote on Wednesday.
Novaya Gazeta Europe previously established the identity of 80 of the 83 war veterans who participated in the programme and found that 13 of them, including Abaev, were suspected of involvement in war crimes by the Ukrainian authorities.
Several others on the programme are known to have been involved in battles for Ukrainian towns that were later completely destroyed, or to have served in divisions which, according to Kyiv, used violence against civilians or executed prisoners of war.
