Russian President Vladimir Putin participates in a conference with the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin in Moscow, Russia March 2,2022
Mikhail Klimentyev|Sputnik|Reuters
President Joe Biden on Monday required proof to be collected to put Russian leader Vladimir Putin on trial for war criminal offenses connected to his country’s intrusion of Ukraine.
“He is a war criminal,” Biden stated of Putin, on the heels of reports of mass killings of civilians by Russian- managed soldiers in the town of Bucha, northwest of Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv.
“This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone’s seen it,” Biden informed press reporters, a day after video and still images exposed the town’s streets cluttered with dead bodies.
“I think it is a war crime. … He should be held accountable.”
Biden likewise stated he prepares to slap extra sanctions on Russia for its conduct throughout the war, which started with an intrusion onFeb 24.
“I’ll let you know,” the president responded when a press reporter asked him the nature of those anticipated sanctions.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan later on Monday informed press reporters at the White House that sanctions would be revealed today.
“Russia will pay a severe price,” Sullivan stated. “We have communicated to them directly. We have coordinated with our allies and partners and I’m not going to go for the specifics here.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier implicated Russian forces of dedicating genocide, stating that Ukrainians are being “destroyed and exterminated.”
Bucha’s mayor has actually stated about 300 homeowners of the town had actually been eliminated at the time that fighters from Chechnya managed the location.
Russia has actually rejected claims that its soldiers eliminated civilians in Bucha, with its Defense Ministry calling the claims a “provocation.”
Biden stated Monday, “You may remember, I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal” last month.
“Well, the truth of the matter, you saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him — he is a war criminal,” Biden stated.
“But we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight,” the president stated.
“We have to get all the detail so this can be … a war crime trial.”
The International Criminal Court’s primary district attorney has actually opened an examination into Russia’s conduct in Ukraine.
Sullivan, the nationwide security consultant, at the White House instruction when inquired about the online forum for a war criminal offenses trial of Putin stated, “We have to sit with our allies and partners on what makes most sense as a mechanism moving forward,”
“Obviously, the ICC is one venue where war crimes have tried in the past, but there have been other examples,” Sullivan stated. “So there’s work to be done to work out the specifics of that.”
– Additional reporting by Amanda Macias
