Air raids on art schools and maternity hospitals. Residential apartment buildings take fire from tanks. More than 900 civilians died in a matter of weeks.
Is Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal? His country’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has presented a wealth of evidence that has led several world leaders – including US President Joe Biden last week – to use the loaded label.
The question now is what Biden’s comments — which he followed up by calling Putin a “killing dictator” and “pure criminal” — for the war in Ukraine going forward.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday did not signal concern that Biden’s remarks would disrupt talks with Russia. He told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that he was “ready for negotiations” with Putin. (More on this in a moment.)
Biden’s comments represent a major moment since top officials have largely avoided saying war crimes are being committed in Ukraine, citing an ongoing investigation into whether the term could be used. But soon after the President uttered the words “I thought he was a war criminal” to reporters at an unrelated event, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the comments were “from the heart.” Other officials use the same language.
“When you speak from the heart, speak as a human being and you see what we have all seen, the searing images on TV, the Russian attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the strike against residential buildings, against schools, against civilian neighborhoods, it’s hard not to walk away from that conclusion,” State Department spokesman Ned Price later told CNN.
And after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he “personally” agreed with Biden’s label of Putin, Psaki told reporters the top US diplomat spoke from the heart “too.”
Why all parsing? While terms like “war crimes” and “war criminals” are often used colloquially, they have legal definitions that can be used in potential prosecutions. It is included in the Geneva Conventions, which stipulates the intentional targeting of civilians as a war crime.
In other words, the White House is careful not to pre-empt international investigations into the Russian invasion.
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Will Biden’s words complicate Ukraine-Russia negotiations? The Kremlin called Biden’s remarks about Putin as a war criminal “totally unacceptable and inexcusable.”
The question now is what Biden’s comments — which he followed up by calling Putin a “killing dictator” and “pure criminal” — for the war in Ukraine going forward.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday did not signal concern that Biden’s remarks would disrupt talks with Russia. He told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that he was “ready for negotiations” with Putin. (More on this in a moment.)
Biden’s comments represent a major moment since top officials have largely avoided saying war crimes are being committed in Ukraine, citing an ongoing investigation into whether the term could be used. But soon after the President uttered the words “I thought he was a war criminal” to reporters at an unrelated event, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the comments were “from the heart.” Other officials use the same language.
“When you speak from the heart, speak as a human being and you see what we have all seen, the searing images on TV, the Russian attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the strike against residential buildings, against schools, against civilian neighborhoods, it’s hard not to walk away from that conclusion,” State Department spokesman Ned Price later told CNN.
And after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he “personally” agreed with Biden’s label of Putin, Psaki told reporters the top US diplomat spoke from the heart “too.”
Why all parsing? While terms like “war crimes” and “war criminals” are often used colloquially, they have legal definitions that can be used in potential prosecutions. It is included in the Geneva Conventions, which stipulates the intentional targeting of civilians as a war crime.
In other words, the White House is careful not to pre-empt international investigations into the Russian invasion.
Will Biden’s words complicate Ukraine-Russia negotiations? The Kremlin called Biden’s remarks about Putin a war criminal “absolutely
