Des Moines, Iowa/Washington DC, US
Reuters
US President Joe Biden said for the first time on Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amounts to genocide then qualified the statement by saying that a legal process would make the final determination.
US President Joe Biden speaks while visiting a POET Bioprocessing plant in Menlo, Iowa, US, on 12th April. PICTURE: Reuters/Al Drago.
POPE, CITING CIVILIAN MASSACRES, CONDEMNS “ABOMINABLE ACTIONS” IN UKRAINE
Pope Francis said on Tuesday that the war in Ukraine was marked by “the forces of evil” because it was leaving in its wake abominations such as the massacre of civilians.
Francis made his comments to participants at an inter-religious pilgrimage of solidarity with the Ukrainian people in Chernivtsi in Western Ukraine organised by the Israeli-based Elijah Interfaith Institute.
“The present moment leaves us deeply troubled, because it is marked by the forces of evil,” he said in the message read on his behalf.
“The suffering inflicted on so many frail and defenceless persons; the many civilians massacred and the innocent victims among the young; the desperate plight of women and children…All this troubles our consciences,” he said.
Pope Francis holds a news conference aboard the papal plane on his flight back after visiting Malta, on 3rd April. PICTURE: Vatican Media/Handout via Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, has described Moscow’s actions as a “special military operation” in Ukraine designed not to occupy territory but to demilitarise and “denazify” the country.
Francis has rejected that terminology, calling it a war.
The Kremlin says allegations that Russian forces have committed war crimes by executing civilians in Ukraine were a “monstrous forgery” aimed at denigrating the Russian army.
Francis, who has issued many appeals for an end to the conflict, said it was impossible to remain indifferent and that it was necessary “to speak out forcefully in order to demand, in the name of God, the end of these abominable actions”.
At a meeting of the pilgrimage where key members spoke, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams echoed the Pope’s recent call for an Easter truce in the conflict.
It was also attended by Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and members of other religions.
In his message, Francis urged “government leaders, especially those who appeal to the sacred principles of religion,” to seek peace and shun evil.
– PHILIP PULLELLA, Vatican City/Reuters
Biden used the term genocide in a speech at an ethanol plant in Iowa and later stood by the description as he prepared to board Air Force One.
“Yes, I called it genocide because it has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of being able to be Ukrainian and the evidence is mounting,” Biden told reporters.
He added: “We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.”
Biden has repeatedly called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, but he has not declared that Russia has committed genocide in Ukraine.
“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away,” Biden said at an event in Iowa on fuel prices. The president referred to expensive gasoline as a “Putin price hike.”
Under international law, genocide is an intent to destroy – in whole or in part – a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
According to UN convention, this includes through killings; serious bodily or mental harm; inflicting lethal conditions and measures to prevent births, among other means.
Biden has made a handful of statements about the war that U.S. officials have later had to walk back. The president stirred controversy on a recent trip to Poland when he ad-libbed a line at the end of a speech and said that Putin should not be allowed to remain in power. The White House clarified that U.S. policy was not to seek regime change.
Genocide, considered the most serious international offense, was first used to describe the Nazi Holocaust. It was established in 1948 as a crime under international law in a United Nations convention.
Since the end of the Cold War, the State Department has formally used the term seven times. These were to describe massacres in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq and Darfur; the Islamic State’s attacks on Yazidis and other minorities; China’s treatment of Uighurs and other Muslims and this year over the Myanmar army’s persecution of the Rohingya minority. China denies the genocide claims.
At the State Department, such a determination normally follows a meticulous internal process. Still, the final decision is up to the secretary of state, who weighs whether the move would advance American interests, officials said.
– Additional reporting by MICHELLE NICHOLS, HUMEYRA PAMUK and KATHERINE JACKSON.
