President Biden on Tuesday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing genocide in Ukraine, an escalation of his administration’s rhetoric on Russia.
Biden made the remark when discussing recent efforts to address higher gas prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price and address the Putin price hike,” he told an audience in Menlo, Iowa.
“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,” Biden said.
The Biden administration has accused Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine but has stopped short of deeming civilian killings “genocide,” a term that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has used.
Biden later affirmed his belief that Putin’s actions constitute genocide during an exchange with reporters, but said his lawyers would make the ultimate determination.
“It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of being Ukrainian,” Biden said. “The evidence is mounting.”
“And we’re gonna only learn more and more about the devastation and we’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies but it sure seems that way to me,” he continued.
Zelensky commended Biden for the comments, describing them as “true words of a true leader.”
“Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil,” the Ukrainian president tweeted. “We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
Biden’s comments come days after Russian missiles struck a train station in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people, and a week after horrific images of civilian bodies in the streets emerged from the town of Bucha near Kyiv.
Asked last Monday if the killings in Bucha constituted genocide, Biden replied: “No, I think it is a war crime.”
That same day, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration had not yet judged that genocide was taking place in Ukraine and suggested there would be a process to make that determination.
“Based on what we have seen so far, we have seen atrocities, we have seen war crimes. We have not yet seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide,” Sullivan told reporters at the time. “But, again, that’s something we will continue to monitor.”
Biden’s comments during the speech in Iowa on Tuesday represent a major shift in his administration’s labeling of the atrocities in Ukraine.
They are likely to further ratchet up tensions with Russia, which are already running high amid Moscow’s six-week military attack.
It didn’t appear Tuesday that the administration has made a formal determination of genocide.
Biden previously got out front of his administration in calling Russian strikes that killed civilians “war crimes” last month. The administration subsequently accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in Ukraine, including a maternity hospital in Mariupol, and committing war crimes.
Beckles28nz on April 12nd, 2022 at 22:38 UTC »
The_Novelty-Account on April 12nd, 2022 at 21:14 UTC »
A head of state calling it genocide is extremely significant. The prevention of genocide is an obligation erga omnes under international law meaning countries are obliged to act collectively to prevent it. A statement of a head of state binds the state under IL.
Edit: I was still at work, so couldn't answer questions but generally, this does not necessarily mean any escalation if the United States asserts that its current actions are performed in part to prevent that genocide. The exact content of what must be done to prevent genocide as per the obligation remains uncertain to my knowledge, for why that is and why such a declaration is important see this comment:
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/mxo8eu/biden_officially_recognizes_the_massacre_of/gvqbhhr?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
His caveat that his "lawyers will decide" is potentially significant to the international law of unilateral declaration and may mean that he has not made such a declaration in the first place. With that said, it is always important for heads of state to be extremely careful when making such proclamations if they don't mean them or if they are making them with a caveat because their very words can bind the entire state under international law.
It also likely does not matter under international law whether it is the "official position" of his administration based on the ICJ nuclear test ban case, though I imagine this may have changed since the Trump administration considering the president at that time frequently said things that would have bound the United States as a unilateral declaration if taken as such. See this comment for its basis in law:
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/u2951c/biden_says_putin_committing_genocide/i4i45bu?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
Beckles28nz on April 12nd, 2022 at 20:52 UTC »