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Putin’s War Plan for Ukraine Was to Commit War Crimes

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Russian artillery firing. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

White House Says Russia Planned War Crimes, Weighs Up Assisting Hague Investigation – President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said over the weekend that war crimes were always part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans in Ukraine.

Speaking to ABC,  Sullivan said that the U.S. government presented declassified intelligence that indicated the highest levels of the Russian government intended to purposely target civilians in Ukraine who oppose the invasion.

Sullivan also said that Kremlin aimed “to cause violence against them, to organize efforts to brutalize them in order to try to terrorize the population and subjugate it. So this is something that was planned.”

The White House adviser said that scenes from Bucha, once a thriving and wealthy suburb of Kyiv home to commuters who worked in the nation’s capital city, were “tragic” but not surprising.

White House Considers Assisting International Criminal Court Investigation

According to a report by the New York Times, the Biden administration is “vigorously debating how much the United States can or should assist an investigation into Russian atrocities in Ukraine by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”

The claim comes from unnamed officials who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity.

According to the sources, the White House wants to see Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials held accountable for the atrocities committed in Ukraine. However, legislation passed between 1999 and 2002 designed to prevent the court from investigating Americans could limit the White House’s ability to offer support to the investigations.

How involved the United States federal government will eventually be in any investigation into alleged war crimes is up in the air, but the White House is currently assisting in the compiling of evidence of war crimes that are continuing to take place in Ukraine.

During the same ABC interview on Sunday, Jake Sullivan implied that the United States could find an alternate way to help with investigations into alleged war crimes.

“We have to consult with our allies and partners on what makes most sense as a mechanism moving forward,” Sullivan said. “Obviously the ICC is one venue where war crimes have been tried in the past, but there have been other examples in other conflicts of other mechanisms being set up.”

Ukraine Investigations Thousands of War Crimes

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told CNN on Monday that more than 5,800 cases of alleged Russian war crimes are being investigated right now, with “more and more” cases appearing every day.

Speaking to CNN anchor Jake Tapper, Venediktova said that over 500 suspects have been identified by Ukrainian intelligence officials since the war began, including military personnel, Russian politicians, Kremlin officials, and propaganda agents.

“We want to prosecute these war criminals in our Ukrainian courts, named by Ukraine,” Venediktova said, adding that Ukraine believes the International Criminal Court should still also play a role in the investigations.

Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

Written By

Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive's Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

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