Russia committing war crimes in Ukraine – but in what forum will they be tried?

With regard to ‘information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.’ So said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on 23 March, citing ‘numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities.’

‘Russia’s forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centers, and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded. Many of the sites Russia’s forces have hit have been clearly identifiable as in-use by civilians. This includes the Mariupol maternity hospital, as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressly noted in a March 11 report. It also includes a strike that hit a Mariupol theater, clearly marked with the word “дети” – Russian for “children” – in huge letters visible from the sky,’ he said.

Blinken continued, ‘As with any alleged crime, a court of law with jurisdiction over the crime is ultimately responsible for determining criminal guilt in specific cases. The U.S. government will continue to track reports of war crimes and will share information we gather with allies, partners, and international institutions and organizations, as appropriate. We are committed to pursuing accountability using every tool available, including criminal prosecutions.’

At a US State Department briefing held the same day, spokesman Ned Price introduced Ambassador Beth Van Schaack, recently confirmed by the US Senate as ‘Ambassador-at-large for Global Criminal Justice’, and whose office, she said, ‘is leading the department’s efforts to collect, analyze, and document potential war crimes being committed in Ukraine.’

In response to an observation by a member of the press that Russia will be able to veto the appointment of any UN-mandated court, Van Schaak noted the possibility that courts in Ukraine ‘as the territorial state’ were one possibility. She suggested that ‘Third states within the region who may gain custody over perpetrators or potentially be able to do in absentia trials would have jurisdiction over war crimes committed within Ukraine’, while also welcoming the news that ‘the new incoming prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [‘ICC’] has also opened an investigation into the situation within Ukraine.’

(Legal scholars will note the irony of the apparent endorsement of the ICC, given that the United States voted against the Rome Statute, under the auspices of which it was created, and that several of its senior judicial members were sanctioned by the United States under the previous administration.)

Further asked about previous statements by the US president and secretary of state Blinken that Vladimir Putin is himself a ‘war criminal’, Van Schaak said,

‘We have looked broadly at Russia’s forces, and the conclusion and assessment is that Russia’s forces are committing war crimes. I think that’s consistent with the two prior statements.’

Ned Price said that the accusation that war crimes had been committed ‘was not the sort of announcement that we would make unilaterally on our own without extensive coordination.’

Abramovich – spared US sanctions at Zelensky’s request?

‘The US State Department does not preview sanctions activity’. So said US State Department spokesman Ned Price at a 23 March press briefing, in response to questions about the Wall Street Journal’s reporting that Roman Abramovich (sanctioned by the European and by the UK government earlier in March), is being spared designation by the United States at the request of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, because of the role that he could possibly play in brokering peace talks.

Asked about that possibility, Price said, ‘I’m not going to weigh in on a hypothetical like that. I will say that there are a number of channels through which our Ukrainian partners and their Russian counterparts can engage in dialogue and diplomacy. A number of our European allies, to include our French allies, our German allies, our Turkish allies, our Israeli partners, other channels are extant at the moment where that kind of diplomacy can take place. Those are the channels we’re focused on. Those are the channels we continue to coordinate closely with our allies and partners on.’