The evidence of a genocide committed by the Russians is accumulating, argues Ukraine. Throughout the territories liberated by the Ukrainian army, the authorities are finding signs of atrocities and crimes against humanity.
This is confirmed by the official spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Nikolenko. This militates in favor of the establishment of a special tribunal, according to Ukraine – a position that still raises questions from its allies, including Canada.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Mr. Nikolenko argued that the evidence is “horrific”.
This revives a debate that has been going on since the spring on whether or not Russia will carry out a genocidal plan and actions in this country ravaged by war since February.
Mr. Nikolenko thus adds his voice to the Attorney General of Ukraine who told the BBC on Sunday that the Russian strikes against energy infrastructure, the electricity network in particular, amounted to genocide. No less than 10 million people were then plunged into darkness, mainly in the capital. The drinking water network has also failed and this makes us fear the worst with the coming winter.
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, which compiles the reports, as many as 49,471 war crimes and crimes of aggression have been committed since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
Vladimir Putin’s troops occupied up to a quarter of Ukrainian territory, but had to retreat and an estimated 15% of the territory is now under Russian control, mainly in the east and south-east.
Traces left
However, it is by withdrawing that the aggressor leaves behind him the traces of the crime. Researchers who have developed tools to detect abuses, including through social networks, have found that the Russian military carried out more alleged crimes and atrocities just before having to give up ground, according to results presented in a seminar at the University of Ottawa recently.
“In each of the localities that we liberate, we find places where mass atrocities were committed, mass graves, torture chambers,” Nikolenko explained during an interview in an underground bunker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs, in Kyiv.
“All of these cases are currently under investigation,” he continued.
For example, recently in Balaklia, a town liberated in September and recently visited by The Canadian Press, a torture chamber had been set up in the local police station.
The evidence is accumulating and leaves less and less doubt about the genocidal abuses of the Moscow regime, judges the Ukrainian government.
“There is horrific evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the official spokesperson said. If we look at the sum of the crimes committed by the Russians in Ukraine, this may amount to genocide. »
A meaningful word
The use of the word genocide is very loaded and cannot be invoked at all times, since the Holocaust during the Second World War and the founding of the United Nations, which codified this crime in a convention.
According to the United Nations (UN) Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as “a crime committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
In the eyes of the kyiv government, civilians are massacred simply because they are Ukrainians.
“Russia behaves like a terrorist state, it kills innocent people, without any particular reason or motive, simply because they are Ukrainians and they continue to resist,” said Mr. Nikolenko.
Researcher Marie Lamensch, who is a project coordinator at Concordia University, recently spoke of the “hyperviolence” of the war in Ukraine that goes beyond what we have seen before.
The one who previously studied the Rwandan genocide has also compared the abuse documented in Ukraine to what had been reported in Rwanda.
She spoke of the “mutilations practiced on the bodies even after the murders” during a colloquium on Ukrainian studies in Ottawa.
On Ukrainian soil, Russian troops are committing, among other things, “rape, forced transport of children, destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure”, she detailed.
The use of the term genocide is not unanimous and could be the subject of political and legal debate.
A specialist in the Ukrainian question called for some caution. In a recent take on social media, French researcher Anna Colin Lebedev acknowledged a form of “ambient genocidal political discourse and deep-seated contempt for Ukraine” in Russia.
The author of the book “Never Brothers? about the complex relations between Ukraine and Russia, notes that the Russian command is “failing on the ground” and is losing control of the situation.
However, she then clarified that she has no elements that allow her to conclude that there is “a direct order of extermination given to the troops”.
Called to clarify his analysis, Mme Colin Lebedev did not respond to our interview request.
A special court
Ukraine wants the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute and convict the perpetrators of the atrocities, but that would not be enough. The Zelensky government also wants a special tribunal to be set up for matters that the ICC cannot cover.
“As the ICC cannot cover crimes of aggression (of one country against another), a special court is needed,” pleaded Mr. Nikolenko.
Canada does not yet have an official position on this issue of creating a new tribunal, but has reservations.
“We are continuing to review this proposal,” a foreign affairs official said during a technical briefing.
“There are practical and legal obstacles,” he continued, adding that discussions are continuing with the other G7 partners on this specific point.
“There is some skepticism about the feasibility of the thing. »
As of October, more than 40 countries have approached the ICC to look into crimes committed in Ukraine, Ms.me Lamensch.
States such as Germany, Sweden, France and the United Kingdom have opened investigations and sent investigators on the ground to Ukraine to collect evidence.
Experts and elected officials have also founded the Global Parliamentary Alliance Against Atrocity Crimes (GPAAAC) to better oppose alleged crimes by the Russian military and to bring those responsible to justice.