The Russian government tried to effectively block or prevent any kind of international prosecution of its role in suspected war crimes by an international court , using even its seat at the Security Council to veto resolutions which called for an investigation and bringing accountability of the downing the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Donetsk Oblast and for crimes being committed in Syria . It even denied that a chemical attack had taken place in Douma on 7 April 2018 , but this was nonetheless confirmed in a report by the UN-backed Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons . The Russian government also denied accountability in its local courts . While thousands of investigations were undertaken , only one person was convicted for crimes against the Chechens in the Chechen wars &mdash; Yuri Budanov , convicted by a Russian court of kidnapping and murder of Elza Kungaeva and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2003 &mdash; which led Amnesty International to conclude that there is " no accountability " and that a Russian " lack of prosecution has resulted in a climate of impunity " . Due to such impunity , hundreds of victims of abuse have filed applications with the European Court of Human Rights ( ECHR ) . By 2009 , the ECHR issued 115 verdicts ( including in Baysayeva v. Russia case ) finding the Russian government guilty of enforced disappearances , extrajudicial executions , torture , and for failing to properly investigate these crimes in Chechnya
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
Russian war crimes