Russia could chose to revoke prisoner-of-war status for Ukrainian troops convicted of war crimes, as a result of an exemption it secured when signing the Geneva Convention.
As a result of its unwillingness to offer protections to Nazi war criminals captured during World War II, the Soviet Union declined in 1949 to agree to a clause conferring the status of prisoners of war on those found guilty by its courts.
Russia is holding hundreds of Ukrainian military personnel, including members of the Azov Regiment, a military battalion that has been accused of war crimes in the current and previous phases of the conflict.
If those members were to be tried and found guilty of illegal acts, they could then be deprived of prisoner-of-war status that grants them certain rights such as protection from humiliation, visitation rights from the International Red Cross and the freedom to communicate with family.
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Marco Sassoli, professor of international law at the University of Geneva, says that such a move might have few practical implications in the modern world, where prisoners in general have much greater protections than they did when the Geneva Conventions were created. Nevertheless, it would be a symbolic move that would give the authorities greater margin in terms of confinement for those found guilty in local courts.
Combatants cannot be tried for acts related to the conflict unless they constitute war crimes, such as killing or abuse of prisoners or civilians.
As the exemption is reciprocal, Ukraine could also choose to withdraw prisoner of war status from Russian troops convicted of crimes, such as Vadim Shishimarin who has pleaded guilty to killing a civilian.
"I hope they will not invoke it, but continue to treat them as prisoners of war. Anyway, they have to be treated humanely," Sassoli told CGTN.