The US government has evidence shedding light on the Kremlin’s decision to deliberately target critical infrastructure, but the intelligence has reportedly been withheld over fears it could lead to prosecutions of Americans. The ICC is also expected to pursue charges in relation to Russia’s targeting of civilian infrastructure in an attempt to break Ukrainian resistance over the winter months. “Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war,” he said following the trip. Mr Khan publicly signalled his intentions to pursue a case against Russian abductions during a visit to a vacated children’s home in southern Ukraine. Putin last May signed a decree making it easier for Ukrainians to access Russian citizenship. She has made dozens of public appeals for Russian families to come forward to adopt Ukrainian children, as well as boasting that she had adopted a teenage boy from Mariupol. Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, who is sanctioned by a number of Western governments, has been the public face for the campaign. The Kremlin has rarely attempted to hide its attempts to remove children from Ukraine, claiming it as a humanitarian mission to protect orphans or abandoned children from the war. This month, however, the Ukrainian government has suggested the number of abducted children could be more than 16,000. It identified at least 43 camps and facilities where children were taken as part of a “large-scale systematic network” operated for more than a year by Moscow. The Kremlin-sponsored programme has seen the forcible removal of children and offered for adoption in Russia.Ī recent US-backed study by researchers at Yale University found that Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children at sites in occupied Crimea. The first case, according to an official briefed on the talks, will focus on the abduction of thousands of Ukrainian children by Russia. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied accusations of war crimes, but international and Ukrainian investigators believe they have gathered enough evidence. It is also highly unlikely any Kremlin ally would ever face trial because it would require Moscow to hand over anyone hit with an ICC warrant to The Hague-based court.Ī spokesman for Mr Khan declined to comment on reports of pending war crimes trials by the Reuters news agency and the New York Times. Vladimir Putin could be charged, as The Hague-based court does not offer immunity for heads of state in cases involving war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.īut the likelihood of the Russian president being tried remains slim as the court does not try defendants in absentia. It was unclear which Russians the ICC prosecutor would target or exactly what the court could charge them with. Special investigators allege that Russia has abducted Ukrainian children and teenagers and sent them to re-education camps, and that Moscow has deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure. If he secures their backing, it would mark the first time warrants have been issued since Mr Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine. Karim Khan, its prosecutor, is expected to ask a pre-trial panel to approve the warrants against several Russians for the mass abduction of children from Ukraine and the targeting of civilian infrastructure. The International Criminal Court (ICC) will seek arrest warrants against Russians for atrocities committed in Ukraine as part of two war crimes cases to be opened, it has been reported.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |