Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a joint press conference with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, Russia February 18, 2022.
Sergey Guneev | Kremlin | Sputnik | via Reuters
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Wednesday will announce additional sanctions targeting Russian financial institutions, as well as Kremlin officials and their family members, three people familiar with the matter said. told NBC News.
The new sanctions package, implemented with allies the European Union and the Group of Seven, will also ban new investment in Russia and state-owned enterprises.
The new measures follow coordinated rounds of sanctions that have propelled Russia past Iran and North Korea to become the most sanctioned country in the world. These measures took a toll on the Russian economy as Moscow stepped up its brutal invasion of its neighbour.
The following countermeasures Global outrage over the release of evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Over the weekend, Ukrainian officials announced that hundreds of civilians were tortured and killed by Russian troops in Bucha.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the aftermath in the suburban town near Kyiv, which he witnessed with his own eyes on Monday, as a “genocide.” Britain accused Russia of war crimes.
In a dramatic appearance at the United Nations on Tuesday, Zelenskyy calls for a Nuremberg-style court to investigate and prosecute Russian war crimes.
“The massacre in our city of Bucha is just one, unfortunately, just one of many examples of what the occupiers have done on our land in the past 41 days,” Zelenskyy said. in a nearly 20-minute speech, adding that “the world has yet to see” what Russia has done elsewhere in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears on screen as he addresses members of the Spanish parliament via video link, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Madrid, Spain, April 5, 2022.
Juan Medina | Reuters
The United States and its European allies have previously accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, citing evidence that the country intentionally targeted civilian sites. Russia has described its actions in Ukraine as a “special operation” and denied reports that it targeted civilians.
Since Russia invaded its former Soviet neighbor on February 24, more than 1,400 people have died, including 61 children, according to the United Nations. The international body added that the death rate in Ukraine could be higher, as the armed conflict has delayed reports.
United Nations humanitarian aid director Martin Griffiths told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that Russia’s war has caused more than a quarter of Ukraine’s population to flee the country.
“Current displacement figures tell us that more than 11.3 million people have now been forced to leave their homes and 4.2 million of them are in asylum,” Griffiths said. .
Children who fled the war in Ukraine are laid to rest inside a makeshift refugee shelter an abandoned TESCO supermarket after being transported from Ukraine’s border with Poland on May 8. March 2022 in Przemysl, Poland.
Omar Marques | beautiful pictures
On Monday, President Joe Biden called Russian leader Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and said he should be brought to trial for ordering violence in Ukraine.
“This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is incredible and everyone sees it,” Biden told reporters. He added, “I think it’s a war crime… He must be held accountable.”
Biden’s national security adviser echoed a similar sentiment and said the State Department would help with the United Nations investigation into possible war crimes.
Before traveling to Belgium ahead of NATO and G-7 meetings, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken described reports of Russian war crimes in Ukraine as “most credible”.
Blinken told reporters traveling with him: “What we saw in Bucha was not the random act of a rogue unit. It was a deliberate campaign of murder, torture, rape and execution. atrocities”. “Reports are the most reliable. The evidence is there for the world to see.”
Earlier, on Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters the alliance was committed to supporting the United Nations International Criminal Court’s investigation.
“Targeting and killing civilians is a war crime. All facts must be established and all those responsible for these atrocities must be brought to justice,” Stoltenberg said. It also adds that the coalition has credible evidence of war crimes committed in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities.
