Secretary of State Antony Blinken has determined Russian forces and officials have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine. This official declaration could one day help international bodies, like the International Criminal Court, prosecute Russian war criminals.
Blinken said Russian forces have committed execution-style killings, rape, and torture through beatings, electrocution, and other means. In addition, the Russian military has deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia. All of these findings directly align with the official United Nations definition.
“I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes and to their superiors who are complicit in these crimes, you will be held to account in the face of these indisputable facts,” Vice President Kamala Harris said.
Since March 2022, the United States has provided Ukraine with $30 million and training to support the documentation and prosecution of war crimes.
“Today’s determination underlines [the] staggering extent of the human suffering inflicted by Moscow on the Ukrainian civilian population,” Blinken said when he made the announcement Saturday.
Over the weekend, Blinken also met with the senior Chinese foreign policy official and warned the Chinese not to provide lethal aid to Russia or help with sanctions evasion.
“As President Biden said, going back many months when the aggression first took place and he spoke to President Xi Jinping, he told him at that point that there would be real consequences in our own relationship were China to provide lethal assistance to Russia in this aggression against Ukraine or in a systematic way aid in the evasion of sanctions,” Blinken said. “And as I said, we have a real concern that China is considering doing just that.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said they thoroughly stand on the side of dialogue and peace.
“It is the U.S. who kept providing weapons to the battlefield, not China. The U.S. is in no position to tell us what to do, and we would never accept its finger-pointing and even coercion and pressure on China-Russia relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
Later this week, President Biden is expected to announce another round of sanctions against individuals and companies trying to help Russia continue its war effort.
