President Biden on Tuesday declared the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin “genocide”, the first time he has publicly invoked the phrase since Putin began his deadly assault on Ukraine. Mr Biden has previously accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Biden made statements about Russia’s actions during a speech in Iowa about his administration’s efforts to combat high commodity prices. The Department of Labor announced consumer prices rose 8.5% in March more than a year ago, the highest jump in four decades. Biden’s White House has begun declaring price jumps at the gas station and elsewhere “Putin’s price hike,” although gas prices and other key household spending were rising before Russian forces invade Ukraine.
“I am doing everything in my power by executive orders to reduce the price and deal with Putin’s rising prices,” Biden said. “In fact, we’ve come a long way since the March inflation data was collected. Your family budget is your ability to fill your tank, none of that should depend on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide in the middle of the world “.
The president’s wording goes beyond what other U.S. officials have recorded, as Mr. Biden did when he described Putin as a war criminal long before the State Department formally stated that Russia’s actions constituted war crimes.
When he left Iowa, Mr Biden told reporters, “Yes, I called it genocide because it has become increasingly clear that Putin is just trying to get rid of the idea of even being able to be Ukrainian.”
“More evidence is coming out of the horrible things the Russians have done in Ukraine,” Biden continued. “And we’ll just learn more and more about the devastation. We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether it’s suitable or not, but I’m sure that’s how it seems to me.”
Carolyn Kaster / AP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also accused Putin and Russia committing genocide.
“In fact, this is genocide: the elimination of the whole nation and the people,” Zelenskyy told Face the Nation on April 3.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that the United States “has seen war crimes,” but that it has not seen a level of systematic deprivation of the lives of the Ukrainian people that reaches the level of genocide. “.
The United Nations broadly defines genocide as the serious harm or murder of members of a group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. It is unclear whether Tuesday’s genocide line was written or whether the president added it himself.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that she had nothing to confirm about unconfirmed reports that Russia has used chemical weapons in Mariupol.
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- Joe Biden
- Russia
- War crimes
- Vladimir Putin
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