Europol sets up OSINT task force to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine

Europol has set up a new Task Force to assist in ongoing investigations of major international crimes committed in Ukraine following the invasion by Russian armed forces in February 2022, the press service says.

It is noted that since the beginning of the war, OSINT has been available on the Internet at an unprecedented level. This is mainly due to the growing importance of the Internet and social media.

Such intelligence can greatly assist investigators in verifying and registering war crimes.

This working group aims to help identify suspects and their involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity by collecting and analyzing open-source intelligence (OSINT).

Due to the vast amount of information available on the Internet and the impact of major international crimes on the global community as a whole, international cooperation is invaluable.

The OTF is led by the international crimes units of the Dutch Police (Nationale Politie) and German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt), with the support of Europol and its Analysis Project Core International Crimes (AP CIC).

So far, 14 countries have agreed to assign a dedicated OSINT capacity to the task force to support prioritized requests from Ukraine, other countries, and the International Criminal Court.

The OTF may also appeal to the support and cooperation of non-OTF members, EU agencies, NGOs, or private companies.

In September of this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and discussed the approach of real accountability for Russian war crimes.