War Crimes In Ukraine? Here’s What Russia’s Been Accused Of And What Comes Next.

Topline

The U.S. said Sunday there’s “credible” evidence of Russia committing war crimes, the latest such allegation against Russia in its war on Ukraine as the International Criminal Court launches into an investigation—but prosecuting these charges will prove uniquely difficult.

The International Criminal Court, 20 June 2006 in the Hague, Netherlands.

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Key Facts

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s State of the Union there are “credible reports” of Russian targeting Ukrainian civilians, which he says would “constitute a war crime,” becoming the highest profile American to suggest Russia’s committing war crimes.

The ICC opened an investigation last week into war crime allegations, but how Russia and its president Vladimir Putin will face justice is unclear.

In addition to its alleged targeting of civilians, Russia has been accused by the U.S. of war crimes for its attacks on nuclear power plants and its alleged use of weapons outlawed by the Geneva Conventions, which set the international protocol for war.

Among these three primary accusations, the ICC includes “grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions” and targeted attacks on civilians in its definition of what constitutes a war crime, but makes no mention of nuclear power plants.

Should the investigation find evidence of a war crime, there remains a significant catch for bringing Putin to justice: The ICC only tries individuals and conducts trials in person, and it’s unlikely Putin or other related parties could be arrested and brought in any time soon.

In its two-decade existence, the ICC has issued just 35 arrest warrants and 10 total convictions, and investigations can last upwards of a decade.

Crucial Quote

Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, admitted the Ukraine war crimes investigation presents “myriad challenges, opportunities and difficulties,” casting doubt on hopes Russia will quickly be held accountable for its alleged injustices.

Key Background

The ICC was created in 1998 as an independent body to investigate war crime allegations, specifically in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, handled by the United Nations, building off of the International Military Tribunal that conducted the Nuremberg trials. The ICC describes itself as “the world’s only permanent international court with a mandate to investigate and prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Wednesday Russia has used vacuum bombs and cluster munitions in its invasion, both outlawed weapons under the Geneva Conventions. The U.S. embassy in Kyiv tweeted Friday, “It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant,” referring to Russia’s condemned attacks on several Ukrainian nuclear power plants. But the State Department told other embassies to not retweet this message, apparently distancing itself from an official endorsement of the war crimes accusation.

Chief Critic

Bill Wiley, director of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, agreed, telling The Guardian about the difficulty the ICC faces in its investigation of Russia: “It’s extremely difficult to build these cases because you don’t know what the attacking force is trying to hit. When you’re in a war of movement, it is very, very difficult, because the violence is constantly moving. International humanitarian law makes tremendous allowance – more than people realize – for incidental, or what the media calls collateral damage.”

Tangent

Sunday sparked further humanitarian criticism stemming from Russia’s war on Ukraine. The International Committee of the Red Cross’ effort to evacuate an estimated 200,000 civilians from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol failed Sunday for the second straight day, the group said in a statement. Both Ukraine and Russia accused the other of shelling that prevented the humanitarian effort. The Red Cross said in the statement: “We continue to remind the parties to the conflict of their obligations to respect international humanitarian law and to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”