between “severity” and “indulgence”, how to treat the Ukrainians who collaborated with the Russians?

What fate to reserve for the Ukrainians who collaborated with the Russian troops? The question arises acutely, as many territories occupied for several months by Russian troops are liberated. Those who fled return, and hope to find their loved ones who remained, without really knowing what fate will be reserved for them.

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This is the case in the city of Kryvyi Rih, north of Kherson in southern Ukraine. Here, the phone hasn’t been working for almost a month and a half. Roman has had no recent news from Oleksi, one of his childhood friends, who stayed in his village of Bilovodsk, in the north of Donbass. “We were neighbors, we lived on the same street, we’ve known each other since childhood“, says Roman. He fled while Oleksi continued his life despite the Russian presence.

Escape to free Ukraine was not possible for Oleksi, as he had to pay his credit and feed his children. “He was against the Russian occupation, but he was forced to work because he was the head of a local gas distribution company. At the beginning, he was torn, he told me that if he collaborated, he was going to feel like a traitor. He finally decided to stay working without changing his mind.“, explains Roman. For him, his friend is not a traitor, he did not collaborate, “he remained faithful to his country“. The question of the degree of collaboration is then at the heart of the debates in the country.

But this explanation is difficult for some to hear. Oleksandr Vilkul heads the military administration of the city of Kryvyi Rih. In this region too, the Ukrainian army has recently reconquered territory and arrested suspected collaborators. “How do you want to do? As in France with the supporters of the Vichy regime?“, he asks.

“All the collaborators will tell you that they acted with the gun to their head.”

Oleksandr Vilkul

at franceinfo

According Oleksandr Vilkul, everyone who collaborated with the Russians explains it by coercion, “mEven those who worked in the administration or in the police of the occupied territories, those who forced people, arms in hand, to vote during the pseudo-referendums, they will all say that their hand was forced.“

For him, the fate of collaborators is not in doubt in times of war: “Of course, you have to wait for the investigation, the trial and then the verdict, but I find that in wartime you have to be very severe and that indulgence will come later.“Today, the law provides for a five-year prison sentence for Ukrainians who allegedly work with Russians. But a review is planned, after a debate currently in parliament between moderates and hardliners.