Russia – Terrorist State;
Russians – War Criminals
Was it difficult in May 1945 to convince the world that Nazi
Germany was a terrorist state, the perpetrator of murder on a mass scale, of
genocide? Was it difficult then to denounce its leaders, Adolf Hitler and the
other Nazi officials, supporters and common Germans as war criminals?
You would think that the past nearly six months have
persuaded the global community that Russia has been perpetrating the most
heinous crimes against the Ukrainian nation, crimes condemned by all civilized
nations that set it apart on a bloodier level than Nazi Germany?
The world has been witnessing Russia’s unrelenting war in
Ukraine since February 24 that was to end in a couple of days. It hasn’t
been a war between opposing armies because Russia soon came to its painful realization
that its army can’t match the Ukrainian army and its soldiers can’t be regarded
as combatants. They’re cutthroat killers. The world beheld Russian invaders’
total disregard for human life, the lives of innocent women, men and children. The
shocking atrocities uncovered in Bucha and Irpin, the annihilation of the port
city of Mariupol, the seizure of prisoners of war and later their execution, and
the latest manifestation of Russian butchery with missile attacks on civilian
targets in Kremenchuk and Vinnytsia can only be described as genocide perpetrated
by Russian terror– the pre-meditated intent to kill all Ukrainians, to
eradicate them from human memory along with their houses of worship, museums,
historical landmarks, and language.
Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues to cause
carnage and untold suffering among the people. By all accounts, Russia and
Russians can only be equated with terrorists and terrorism.
Last month, a bipartisan duo of senators called on the Biden
Administration to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in
response to its invasion of Ukraine, saying they would push Congress to pass a
bill issuing the designation “whether or not” it had President Joe Biden’s
support.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Republican Sen.
Lindsey Graham said the designation should be made either by the President or
Congress, with both of them saying Biden must intensify pressure on Russian
President Putin and continue aiding Ukraine amid the ongoing invasion.
“I hope the President will decide to adopt this stance voluntarily
and he hasn’t taken it off the table on the state-sponsored terrorism,” said
Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Graham of South Carolina said he wants the Biden
administration to engage with Congress in designating Russia as a state sponsor
of terrorism but said Congress is “willing” to advance legislation calling for
the designation regardless.
Senate Resolution 623 cites the following points:
• Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe Zbigniew Rau stated that actions of the government of
the Russian Federation in Ukraine against innocent civilians and civilian
infrastructure is “state terrorism”;
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine called for the
world to acknowledge the Russian Federation as a terrorist state;
• The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (parliament) has appealed to
Congress to encourage the Department of State to recognize the Russian
Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism noting that “the Russian Federation
has for years supported and financed terrorist regimes and terrorist
organizations, including being the main supplier of weapons to the Assad regime
in Syria and supporting terrorists in the Middle East and Latin America,
organizing acts of international terrorism, including the poisoning of the
Skripal family in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the
downing of a civilian Malaysian airliner and other acts of terrorism”;
• The armed forces of the Russian Federation have committed
numerous summary executions against innocent civilians and have attempted to
cover their atrocities with mass graves across Ukraine
It concludes by stating that the Government of the Russian Federation,
at the direction of President Vladimir Putin, is sponsoring acts of terrorism;
and it calls on the Secretary of State to designate the Russian Federation as a
state sponsor of terrorism.
A House version designating the actions in Ukraine as acts
of genocide was introduced by Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Joe Wilson (R-SC). Russia’s
war of aggression against Ukraine continues to cause carnage and untold
suffering. In nearly six month of war, the Kremlin aggressors have killed
thousands of innocent civilians and injured thousands more.
H.Res.1205, recognizes Russian actions in Ukraine as a genocide,
explicitly condemns the genocide of Ukrainians and “supports tribunals and
international criminal investigations to hold Russian political leaders and
military personnel to account for a war of aggression, war crimes, crimes
against humanity, and genocide.”
So what doesn’t the world understand? The Senate and House
of Representatives support it. So does House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian Parliament, and the
former captive nations of Russian subjugation.
But Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is not so sure.
As pressure has mounted on Blinken to formally declare
Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, a label currently reserved for North
Korea, Syria, Cuba and Iran, he is resisting a move that could force him to
sanction U.S. allies that do business with Russia and might snuff out the
remaining vestiges of diplomacy between Washington and Moscow. And the
Secretary State knows about Russia’s crimes, he has condemned them and strongly
supports Ukraine in its war of survival against Russia.
According to the State Department, finding that Russia is a
state sponsor of terror — a label that agency officials refer to as the
“nuclear option” — would result in more sanctions on Russia’s battered economy,
including penalties on countries that do business with Moscow. It would also
waive traditional legal barriers that prevent private citizens from suing
foreign governments for damages, potentially including the families of American
volunteers killed or injured while fighting Russia in Ukraine.
The pain and suffering of Ukrainians, of the parents of
children raped and killed in their presence, deserves greater attention and
sympathy.
Also, Putin has publicly opposed the designation of state
sponsor of terrorism and threated retribution against America if it goes
through with congressional resolutions.
Overseas, Latvia’s parliament declared Russia a state
sponsor of terror. Latvia’s unicameral parliament, known as the Saeima,
approved a resolution noting that Russia has supported and financed terrorist
regimes and organizations for years. The Saeima used as examples Moscow’s
support for the Assad government in Syria shooting down Malaysia Airlines
Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and the poisoning of British
intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in 2018.
The Latvian statement said Russia has now used “similarly
ruthless, immoral, and illegal tactics in Ukraine, as it uses imprecise and
internationally banned weapons and ammunition” on civilians. It also cites
reports from human rights groups and international observers, which have
documented atrocities committed by Russian forces against Ukrainian civilians,
“including torture, rape, killings, and mass detentions of civilians.”
Latvian lawmakers said Russia uses “suffering and
intimidation as tools in its attempts to demoralize the Ukrainian people.” They
recognize these acts against civilians “committed in pursuit of political aims
as terrorism and Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and calls on other
like-minded countries to express the same view.”
They also called on the European Union and the West to
“urgently intensify and implement comprehensive sanctions against Russia, as
well as call on European Union member states to immediately suspend the
issuance of tourist visas and restrict the issuance of entry visas to citizens
of the Russian Federation and Belarus, among other measures.”
Enough debating. A war such as the Russo-Ukraine War of
2014-22 hasn’t been seen in Europe in decades if not longer. If you’re still
hedging, recall the image of little Liza, the autistic girl who was killed in a
Russian missile attack on Vinnytsia while pushing her stroller next to her
mother.
Russia and Russians must be declared sponsors of state
terrorism for all ages.
