This week, the State Forensic Science Bureau (SFSB) welcomes colleagues from the Kharkiv Forensic Science Institute - Anastasiia Sinitsyna, forensic expert, Kateryna Rudneva, Head of the Physical and Chemical Research Department, and Oleksandr Smyrnov, leading researcher. During the week-long visit, Latvian and Ukrainian forensic experts will exchange experience and knowledge in the areas important to documentation of the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation.
The opening of the visit was attended by the Second Secretary of the Department of Development Cooperation Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dāvis Drēziņš, who emphasized unwavering support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Ukraine’s sovereignty in its fight for the right to be free.
This is the first of four experience exchange visits planned in the project "Support for Ukrainian Forensic Experts in documentation of the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation " (ForUkraine). Three visits will be held in Riga, Latvia, and one will be held in Tallinn, Estonia, organized by the Estonian Forensic Science Institute.
In the ForUkraine project, the SFSB will support Kharkiv forensic experts with
• necessary equipment and materials;
• experience exchange visits;
• assistance in the development and testing of new forensic methods.
The project ForUkraine or " Support for Ukrainian Forensic Experts in documentation of the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation " received funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2023 from the development cooperation budget.
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies do significant work in documentation and investigation of the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation. Forensic experts make a significant contribution to this process.