Bastrykin orders probe after mass graves of local residents discovered in liberated parts of LPR

 (Interfax) - Russian investigators will try to find out the causes of deaths among residents in the Luhansk People's Republic, whose mass graves were earlier discovered in liberated areas, the Russian Investigative Committee said on its website on Friday.

"According to the LPR [Luhansk People's Republic] foreign ministry, the sites of mass graves where victims of war crimes were buried have been found in the republic's liberated areas," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin has tasked the Main Investigative Directorate with "organizing a procedural review of these facts, collecting and documenting evidence and making a legal assessment on the actions of all those involved," it said.