Russian War Crimes – Will the Russians ever be held accountable?

This thread is meant to be about Russian War Crimes.

To prevent the spread of dis-information:

• Please provide the source of any incidents or stated facts.

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From the very beginning of the Russian Full Scale Invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military have blatantly committed war crimes.

There is undeniable evidence to substantiate these crimes. In many cases, it it from video posted on social media by the perpetrators themselves, bragging about what they have done.

These crimes include the outright public killing of unarmed civilians, as well as the execution of surrendered Ukrainian PoWs.

These are just a few examples of what the Russian military has done.  There are hundreds more.

CAUTION:  Links provided contain explicit images.

Right from the very beginning, the town of Bucha became an horrific nightmare for the people living there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ek5jt8Ru3o

A video of a Ukrainian PoW appeared online around March 6^th, 2023.

Oleksandr Ihorovych Matsievskyi is standing in a hole, with a shovel stuck into the dirt behind him. He is unarmed and smoking a cigarette. His last words are "Slava Ukraini", before he is shot from multiple sides.

Russians are heard saying "die bleep" in the background.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Oleksandr_Matsievskyi

Just this past Saturday, May 25^th, the Russians dropped a guided bomb on a shopping mall in Karkiv. The bomb hit the hardware store in the mall.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/25/europe/kharkiv-russian-strike-hypermarket-ukraine-intl/index.html

https://x.com/sternenko/status/1794785325233193321

In spite of all the evidence, Russia still denies that it has committed any crimes.

The standard response from Russia is always that they are “fake and untrue” news.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/when-have-you-started-enjoying-acting-like-nazis-ukraine-ambassador-to-un-unloads-on-russian-counterpart

So, here are my questions:

Because reports of Russian war crimes have become a weekly (if not daily) occurrence, have people come to accept them as normal?

Is it a case of “That’s what the Russians are like, so you can’t really blame them for what they do”?

Will the Russians ever be held accountable for their actions?

Tuppence,

Naught

Further information and reading:

BBC: Ukraine – Growing Up Under Fire (Scheduled release 2024-06-01)

Preview https://x.com/sarahrainsford/status/1794974377202602213

Russian Atrocities in Chechnya

https://www.hrw.org/news/2000/06/01/russian-atrocities-chechnya-detailed

ICC authorizes Russia-Georgia war crimes investigation

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35422437

Probably not.

As it goes for many other war crimes committed elsewhere in this world.

Depends on who wins

It appears that, despite the fact that Russia is a signatory of the Geneva Convention, and is a charter member since 1864, Russia does not abide by its rules.

There may be some twisted logic, in that the Russian Federation has never actually signed any of the four conventions. 

It seems that the last one, in August 1949, was signed by the Soviet Union, and not the Russian Federation. Subsequent amendments, referred to as Protocols I and II, were signed by the Soviet.  Protocol III, in 2005, was never signed by the Russian Federation.

This may not sound as far-fetched as you think. 

In 1977 Protocol I of the Geneva Convention essentially extended protection to civilian victims of international war.  It also updated and reaffirmed the international laws of war stipulated in the Geneva Convention to accommodate developments of warfare since the Second World War.

That same year, Protocol II was released, extending protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions

However, in October 2019, Putin issued an executive order to revoke the statement accompanying Russia's ratification of the Protocol I.

In effect, Putin is saying, "Yes, the Soviet signed it, but we don't have to abide by it.!"  (Does anyone remember what I said about Russian breaking any treaty that they ever signed?)

In summary, Putin states that:

"Exceptional circumstances affect the interests of the Russian Federation and require urgent action. ... In the current international environment, the risks of abuse of the commission's powers for political purposes by unscrupulous states who act in bad faith have increased significantly."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_the_Geneva_Conventions

As I read it, Putin is saying that, to all outward appearances, the Russian Federation is a member of the Geneva Convention, but we do not have to obey any of the terms of the agreement.

Acceptance of the Geneva Convention is a condition of membership in the United Nations.  If this is the case, then the Russian Federation has no membership in the United Nations, and definitely no seat at the UN Security Council.

Tuppence,

Naught

Further Reading on Russian War Crimes:

Caution:  May contain explicit material.

Survivors say Russia is waging a war of sexual violence in occupied areas of Ukraine. Men are often the victims

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/30/europe/russia-sexual-violence-occupied-ukraine-intl-cmd/index.html

Russia wants to take tens of thousands of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/05/29/7458126/

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-may-28-2024

Russian Soldiers Have Repeatedly Filmed Torture and Executions of Ukrainian Prisoners of War

https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russian-soldiers-have-repeatedly-filmed-torture-and-executions-of-ukrainian-prisoners-of-war-576

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqwlQPrn8Qc&t=8s

Another one on the role of Russian extreme Neo Nazi groups The Role of Russian Neo-Nazi Groups in the War Against Ukraine - UkraineWorld

Regarding the initial question, I have doubts anyone fighting for Russia will ever face trials for war crimes. Whether they are made accountable by some other means (killed on the battlefield, fall out of a window, blown up by car bomb etc.) I think that's quite possible.

jonuk76, on 05 Jun 2024 - 1:38 PM, said

. . . I have doubts . . .  made accountable by some other means . . . that's quite possible.

Covert revenge operations can backfire on the people who perpetrate them.  The best example were the Mossad operations in the 1970s.  They ended in tragedy, when agents were pointed to a wrong target.

They can be, however, very successful, when used during active wartime.  A good example of that is the FFI, or Free French Forces of the Interior.  It brought together many of the different organizations of the French underground, and co-ordinated their activities with the Allies.

The most tragic operation that I can remember is the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.  Operation Anthropoid was conducted by the Czechoslovak government-in-exile.  Heydrich was killed by Czech soldiers, trained by the British.  The Nazis responded by completely obliterating the villages of Lidice and Ležáky.  All males age 14 and above were executed.  Most of the women and children were sent to concentration camps.

As I type this, the Crimean Tartars are actively conducting operations against the Russian invaders and their collaborators.

There are still many living survivors of Stalin's attempted "Ethnic Cleansing" of the Tartars in the 1940s and 50s.

If you are co-operating or assisting the Russian occupation of Crimea, the Tartars consider you a legitimate target.

Tuppence,

Naught.

Russia accused of ‘deliberate’ starvation tactics in Mariupol in submission to ICC

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/13/russia-accused-of-deliberate-starvation-tactics-in-mariupol-in-submission-to-icc

Russia engaged in a “deliberate pattern” of starvation tactics during the 85-day siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in early 2022, which amounted to a war crime, according to a fresh analysis submitted to the international criminal court.

This is an excellent example of upper echelon Russian command deliberately engaging in war crimes.

Most incidences of war crimes by the Russians appear as individual acts of brutality by Russian soldiers.  They are, however, the result of encouragement by the Russian military to commit such crimes.

Tuppence,

Naught

Kidnapped, abused, humiliated – the Ukrainian children stolen by Russia

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-war-russia-children-putin-b2487474.html

Ukrainian children in occupied territory are being sent to Russia.

Any child who has either been orphaned, or is separated from their parents by the war, is subject to being deported to Russia.

Once there, the children are subjected to "indoctrination" in an attempt to "correct" them into being good Russian citizens.

The younger the child, the more likely the brainwashing will take hold.

Infants and toddlers are being put up for adoption by Russian parents.

The Ukrainian government has managed to verify over 19,000 individual children who have been taken.  Some estimates are that the actual number is in the hundreds of thousands.

The Russian Commissioner for the Rights of the Child, Maria Lvova-Belova, has admitted that over 700 thousand Ukrainian minors have been removed from the war zone for their own protection.  She, along with Putin, have had an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

I think we can add International Child Trafficking to the list of barbarous acts committed by Russia.

https://globalnews.ca/news/10552752/vladimir-putin-ukrainian-child-kidnapping/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abductions_in_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-aware-credible-reports-russia-is-listing-ukrainian-children-adoption-white-2024-06-12/

Tuppence,

Naught

Russian Troops Behead a Ukrainian Soldier in Donetsk Region

"Russian forces in the Volnovakha district of Donetsk region have beheaded a Ukrainian soldier . . ."

https://united24media.com/latest-news/russian-troops-behead-ukrainian-soldier-in-donetsk-region-801

It seems that one unit of the Russian army in Volnovakha has been ordered not to take any prisoners.

Meanwhile, Russian PoWs are living in better conditions in Ukrainian detention, than they did in Russian army facilities.

Tuppence,

Naught