U.S. 'Committed' To Holding Russia Accountable For Crimes Against Humanity In Ukraine — State Department

Washington D.C./23.02.23/Turan:   The Biden Administration is "committed" to holding Russians accountable for their crimes against humanity in Ukraine, the State Department said on Wednesday, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Ambassador-at-Large for Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack spoke to reporters in the Department's briefing room about the designation by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Russian forces and officials have committed crimes against humanity in the war in Ukraine, including executions, mock executions, and the rape of women and girls.

Citing President Biden's comments in Warsaw early this week, she said, "No one should turn away their eyes from the atrocities Russia is committing against the Ukrainian people. The United States, together with the international community, is committed to holding those responsible--both the direct perpetrators and the architects of violence--to account, no matter how long this might take."

While Russians involved in crimes against humanity in the Ukraine war could be prosecuted before the war is over, the main challenge will be getting them in custody while they reside in Russia. “While individuals remain within Russia, they will probably enjoy impunity because there is no international police force who can go and make those arrests,” she said.

In the meantime, she added that the U.S. is trying to support accountability "wherever it is being pursued".

There are currently three active pathways for bringing Russians involved in crimes against humanity in Ukraine, as the Ambassador put it. These are Ukraine’s domestic courts, the International Criminal Court, and other courts around the world.

Asked by TURAN whether any of those pathways will be prioritised for bringing Russian leaders – Putin, in particular – into justice, Ambassador Van Schaack said, it "remains to be seen" whether custody can be achieved over Putin.

"But there’s a whole range of other individuals below Putin who are responsible for not only planning but also ultimately executing this campaign of violence against the Ukrainian civilian population," she added.  "And so many prosecutors will take a pyramidal approach, where they’ll start with more low-level individuals, glean what information they can from them in order to build cases up the chain of command.  And so, I imagine that’s what prosecutors around the world are thinking about right now," she said.

The Biden Administration last week formally determined Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The administration in the past applied such determinations to countries such as Myanmar (when it came to violence against Yezidis) and others. "We’ve also looked at the Rohingya matter and described that as both genocide and crimes against humanity" she remidned when responding to TURAN's questions.

"It’s essentially a policy tool that we use in order to call attention to the egregiousness of particular violations happening within either a conflict or a persecution situation," the Ambassador said.

Alex Raufoglu