Bucha 2022: Russia: Perpetrator
of crimes against humanity

Russia: Perpetrator of Crimes against Humanity

Crimes against humanity – they’re not just more meaningless malevolent appellations or accusations.

According to recognized sources, crimes against humanity represent a higher degree of criminality, even higher than a war crime.

Cornell Law School, among others pointed out that “Crimes against humanity are specific crimes committed in the context of a large-scale attack targeting civilians, regardless of their nationality. These crimes include the most egregious violations of human dignity, especially those directed towards civilian populations. Crimes against humanity have often been committed as part of state policies, but they can also be perpetrated by non-state armed groups or paramilitary forces.”

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) notes that crimes against humanity mean any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

• Murder;

• Extermination;

• Enslavement;

• Deportation or forcible transfer of population;

• Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;

• Torture;

• Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;

• Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;

• Enforced disappearance of persons;

• The crime of apartheid;

• Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

The ICC explained that an attack is “directed against any civilian population’ means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack.”

The United States has accepted these parameters and raised the stakes against russia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated today “I have determined that members of russia’s forces and other russian officials have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Members of russia’s forces have committed execution-style killings of Ukrainian men, women, and children; torture of civilians in detention through beatings, electrocution, and mock executions; rape; and, alongside other russian officials, have deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families. These acts are not random or spontaneous; they are part of the kremlin’s widespread and systematic attack against Ukraine’s civilian population.”

Noting that crimes against humanity represent the most egregious crimes, Blinken pointed out that “Today’s determination underlines staggering extent of the human suffering inflicted by moscow on the Ukrainian civilian population. This determination also reflects the deep commitment of the United States to holding members of russia’s forces and other russian officials accountable for their atrocities against the people of Ukraine.”

Blinken said there can be no impunity for these crimes and all perpetrators – hopefully that means that all russian cutthroats in uniforms from the lowly, baby-faced front-line criminal to generals and politicians – will be held accountable. He pledged that the United States will pursue justice for Ukrainian people “for as long as it takes.”

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference today, Vice President Kamala Harris insisted that “justice must be served” to the perpetrators. She said the international community has both a moral and a strategic interest in pursuing those crimes, pointing to a danger of other authoritarian governments taking advantage if international rules are undermined.

“russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population — gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape, and deportation,” Harris said. She also cited “execution-style killings, beatings, and electrocution.”

Harris also pointed to the attack in mid-March on a theater in the strategic port city of Mariupol where civilians had been sheltering, which killed hundreds, and to the images of civilians’ bodies left on the streets of Bucha after the russian pullback from the Kyiv several weeks after russia invaded Ukraine.

“In the case of russia’s actions in Ukraine, we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt,” she said. “These are crimes against humanity.”

“No nation is safe in a world where one country can violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another, where crimes against humanity are committed with impunity, where a country with imperialist ambitions can go unchecked,” Harris added.

The evidence about russian war crimes and crimes against humanity are incontrovertible. For all intents and purposes, the free world is on the same page about moscow’s global criminal behavior.

The UN General Assembly on October 12 passed a historic resolution by an overwhelming majority of member-states calling on countries not to recognize the four regions of Ukraine which Russia has seized, following the “forcerendums” and demanding that Moscow reverse course on its “attempted illegal annexation.”

Earlier, the UN General Assembly labeled russia an aggressor and occupant of Crimea and called for russians to leave that Ukrainian territory.

The irony of this is that Nazi Germany and Hitler, also universally recognized perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, were not offered the same indulgences as russia and putin as they wage the latest russia-Ukraine War of 2014-2023. They were eliminated quickly compared with their detested progenies.

Nota bene In a follow up to the US accusation against russia of crimes against humanity in Ukraine, the New York Daily News on Sunday, February 19, pointed out that in the USA, the designation does not go far enough.

“…It was only last month that the US closed a loophole in the 1996 War Crimes Act. Beforehand, only if the victim or perpetrator of a war crime was a U.S. person could there be a prosecution. By voice votes in both chambers, Congress, led by Rep. Jerry Nadler, got rid of the U.S. person limitation and President Biden signed the new Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act last month.

“So a Russian who commits war crimes in Ukraine can now be prosecuted by the Department of Justice. But another Russian who committed what could far worse crimes against humanity remains untouchable. Harris and Blinken are right about crimes against humanity. Now make that illegal under American law.”

Yale Study Finds russians Kidnapped 6,000 Ukrainian Children

Exodus 21:16 Kidnappers must be put to death, whether they are caught in possession of their victims or have already sold them as slaves.

Deuteronomy 24:7 If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.

Kidnapping, by its violent nature, has been condemned by many civilizations throughout history. It is considered one of the saddest crimes since the victim is seized without warning and dragged to a location far away from his home, family and community and forced to submit to the whims of his or her captors. This is probably the most severe and despicable form of stealing. As the first two verses of this blog show, in the Old Testament this was punishable by death.

In America this crime is punishable by life in prison and sometimes even death. Kidnapping and murder shows you how evil man truly can be. It is completely disobeying the second greatest commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself; as well as the seventh commandment: Thou shalt not steal.

This week the news media reported that russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children – likely many more - in sites in russian-held Crimea and russia whose primary purpose appears to be political re-education, according to a U.S.-backed report.

The report said Yale University School of Public Health researchers had identified at least 43 camps and other facilities where Ukrainian children have been held that were part of a "large-scale systematic network" operated by Moscow since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The children included those with parents or clear familial guardianship, those russia deemed orphans, others who were in the care of Ukrainian state institutions before the invasion and those whose custody was unclear or uncertain due to the war, the report said.

“The primary purpose of the camp facilities we’ve identified appears to be political re-education,” Nathaniel Raymond, one of the researchers, said in a briefing to reporters.

This crime mimics that of Nazi Germany, which during World War II also kidnapped children and transported them to re-education camps.

Some of the children were moved through the system and adopted by russian families, or moved into foster care in russia, the report said.

The youngest child identified in the russian program was just four months old, and some camps were giving military training to children as young as 14, Raymond said, adding that researchers had not found evidence those children were later deployed in combat.

Since the latest russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, russians have made it a point to kill or injure as many Ukrainian children and women as they could in order to deplete the Ukrainian genetic foundation. In addition to kidnappings, the russian cutthroats also killed and raped children and women.

The system of camps and the adoption by russian families of Ukrainian children taken from their homeland “appears to be authorized and coordinated at the highest levels of Russia’s government,” the report said, beginning with President Vladimir Putin and extending to local officials.

The key findings of the Yale report are:

• More than 6,000 children in russia’s custody: Yale Humanitarian Research Lab has collected information about at least 6,000 children from Ukraine ages four months to 17 years who have been held at camps and other facilities since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Arrivals to these facilities began in February 2022; the most recent transfers occurred in January 2023. The total number of children is not known and is likely significantly higher than 6,000.

• At least 43 facilities in network: The network spans at least 43 facilities identified by Yale HRL, 41 of which are pre-existing summer camps in Russia-occupied Crimea and russia. Among the camps, 12 are clustered around the Black Sea, 7 are in occupied Crimea, and 10 are clustered around the cities of Moscow, Kazan, and Yekaterinburg. Eleven of the camps are located over 500 miles from Ukraine’s border with russia, including two camps in Siberia and one in russia’s Far East. The exact number of facilities is likely significantly higher than the 43 identified in this report. Yale HRL identified two facilities associated with the deportation of orphans: a psychiatric hospital, and a family center.

• Network of children’s facilities stretches from russia-occupied Crimea to russia’s eastern coast: The furthest camp this investigation identifies is in Magadan oblast in russia’s Far East near the Pacific Ocean, approximately 3,900 miles from Ukraine’s border with the russian Federation. The camp in Magadan is roughly three times closer to the United States than it is to the border of Ukraine.

• Primary purpose of the camps appears to be political re-education: At least 32 (78%) of the camps identified by Yale HRL appear engaged in systematic re-education efforts that expose children from Ukraine to russia-centric academic, cultural, patriotic, and/or military education. Multiple camps endorsed by the russian Federation are advertised as “integration programs”, with the apparent goal of integrating children from Ukraine into the russian government’s vision of national culture, history, and society.

• Children from two of the camps have been placed with foster families in russia: Yale HRL identified at least two camps that hosted children alleged to be orphans who were later placed with foster families in russia. Twenty children from these camps were reported to have been placed with families in moscow oblast and enrolled in local schools there.

• Consent is collected under duress and routinely violated: Consent gathered from parents for their child to attend a camp included signing over power of attorney in some cases, including to an unnamed agent. Other parents allege that the specific elements of the consent they gave were violated, such as the term of stay and procedures for reuniting with their children. Still other parents allegedly refused to allow their children to go to camps, but were ignored by camp organizers who enrolled the children in camps regardless. In many cases, the ability of parents to provide meaningful consent may be considered doubtful, as the conditions of war and implicit threat from occupying forces represent conditions of duress.

• Children’s returns from at least four camps have been suspended: In approximately 10% of camps identified by Yale HRL, children’s return to Ukraine was allegedly suspended. At two camps, Artek and Medvezhonok, children’s returns were suspended indefinitely, according to parents. Medvezhonok is one of the largest camps identified, at one point hosting at least 300 children from Ukraine. Officials there originally told the children’s parents they would return at the end of summer, but later rescinded the date of return. Hundreds of children from Ukraine from at least two other camps, Luchistyi and Orlyonok, have been or are being held past their scheduled date of return; Yale HRL has been unable to identify how many of these children have been reunited with their parents. Parents also described being unable to get information about their child’s status or whereabouts after their return has been suspended. It is unknown how many of Ukraine’s children russia currently holds and how many have been released to their families.

• All levels of russia’s government are involved: This operation is centrally coordinated by russia’s federal government and involves every level of government. Yale HRL has identified several dozen federal, regional, and local figures directly engaged in operating and politically justifying the program. Activities of officials allegedly implicated in the operation include logistical coordination (i.e., transporting children), raising funds, collecting supplies, direct camp management, and promoting the program within russia and occupied areas of Ukraine. At least 12 of these individuals are not on U.S. and/or international sanction lists at the time of this report.

Another russian crime against Ukraine and humanity. Another act of genocide.