By Andrew Goudsward WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has charged four Russia-affiliated soldiers with war crimes for their actions toward an American during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the Justice Department accusing them of beating and torturing him and staging a mock execution. Attorney General Merrick Garland said these were the first charges brought under a 1996 federal law that allows the United States to prosecute people who commit war crimes against Americans abroad. “As the world has witnessed the horrors of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, so has the United State…