The EU on Monday called on Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine “immediately” and “unconditionally,” blaming the Kremlin for alleged atrocities in towns previously under Russian control.
Images from Bucha, near Kyiv, depicted what appeared to be bound civilians executed in the streets, where dogs foraged and the burnt husks of Russian military vehicles testified to one man’s folly.
“Haunting images of large numbers of civilian deaths and casualties, as well as destruction of civilian infrastructures show the true face of the brutal war of aggression Russia is waging against Ukraine and its people,” EU foreign envoy Josep Borrell said, in a statement on behalf of the bloc. Borrell accused the Russian military of carrying out a “massacre” in Bucha and several other towns, crimes he said would be “inscribed in the list of atrocities committed on European soil.”
Government officials and military leaders in Moscow will be held accountable, Borrell added, noting that Ukraine is collecting evidence of war crimes alongside the ICC Prosecutor’s investigation.
Emmanuel Macron who, until Sunday anyway, engaged in regular dialogue with Putin in an effort to preserve a direct diplomatic line to the only person who can end the conflict, called the scenes from Bucha “unbearable.” “In the streets, hundreds of civilians were murdered,” Macron said. “The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes.”
The Kremlin categorically denied the accusations, calling the images staged. The Defense Ministry went so far as to claim that “not a single civilian” was injured in Bucha. Dmitry Peskov asked the world to reserve judgement.
It wouldn’t be unusual from a historical perspective for a retreating (or “regrouping” or “withdrawing” or whatever term we’re using now for Russia’s strategic pivot) army to resort to indiscriminate violence and destruction on the way out. I’d also be remiss not to note that the history of Western civilization is, in many ways, the history of war crimes and genocide. Such acts continue to this day. In 2019, Donald Trump pardoned a SEAL accused of war crimes in Iraq, for example.
Here again, though, I’m compelled to emphasize that “Whataboutism” is a logical fallacy. War crimes committed by the US in Iraq (or anywhere else) don’t excuse atrocities committed by another army in another conflict, anymore than Hernán Cortés’s conquest of Tenochtitlán is exculpatory for the Third Reich.
The visuals from Bucha piled more pressure on Europe to dial up sanctions, even as an election victory for Hungary’s Viktor Orban suggested at least some voters prefer to avoid entanglements. Of course, Orban’s campaign leveraged state propaganda and he was careful not to amplify opposition efforts to turn his relationship with Putin into an insurmountable liability. Orban did condemn Russia’s aggression and he also took in scores of Ukrainian refugees, in stark contrast to his famous aversion to open borders.
Over the weekend, Lithuania said it stopped importing Russian gas at the beginning of this month, becoming the first European nation to voluntarily cut off the taps. The energy ministry was emphatic, calling the move “a turning point.” “We are the first EU country among Gazprom’s supply countries to gain independence from Russian gas supplies, and this is the result of a multi-year coherent energy policy and timely infrastructure decisions,” energy minister Dainius Kreivys said, adding that “Russia’s demand to pay for gas in rubles is meaningless, as Lithuania no longer orders Russian gas and no longer plans to pay for it.”
Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck reiterated that he’s “working every day” to end the country’s reliance on Russian energy. “This is the right way to go and one that damages Putin every day,” he said, at a press event in Berlin. Habeck noted that sanctions against Putin can “clearly” go further and, in a notable aside, said Germany could “fall back on coal” in the short-term in the event of “insufficient” gas supplies. Last month, Habeck outlined a plan to phase out Russian oil and coal in the near-term and Russian gas as quickly as possible.
For his part, Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing warned of a recession. “We would face a further deterioration of the situation if there is a stop to imports or deliveries of Russian oil and natural gas,” he said Monday, calling the future of EU-Russia relations “completely unclear.” He also said inflation threatens to “poison” the German economy. Headline consumer prices rose 7.3% in Germany last month, preliminary data showed.
European Council president Charles Michel decried the images from Bucha, calling them “haunting” and accusing the Russian army of atrocities. He used the social media tag “#BuchaMassacre.”
Dmytro Kuleba was adamant. The “Bucha massacre was deliberate,” he said, in the course of “demanding” new G7 sanctions. Kyiv seeks a complete embargo on Russian energy, the closure of all ports to Russian ships and goods and a total disconnect of all Russian banks from SWIFT. Kuleba had a time table in mind: “NOW.”
[Note: Kuleba published the image shown at the header of this article to an official Ukrainian government Twitter profile. I’m using it here on the assumption that public dissemination by a government official means it isn’t subject to copyright restrictions]
Has “push come to shove” yet?
Probably not, but if it ever does, and the EU goes forward with an energy embargo, you can be sure I’ll eschew petty comments.
Apologies, I have to remind myself to do better.
I’m trying to point out that the incremental evidence suggests there is no red line in existence (possibly chemical weapons use but I’m even beginning to doubt that) that would cause us to trigger meaningful energy sanctions.
The rhetoric coming out of NATO does not match its actions. “War crimes. Massacre. Genocide.” While the largest sector of the Russian economy continues to support the currency and fund the war machine. There might be a few daughters of Russian officials we can still sanction though.
Chemical use wouldn’t be a red line. It’s been used before. It’s frown upon and definitely not the done thing but it’ll be tolerated.
Nukes, tactical or otherwise are the one true taboo. Not sure what our reaction would be but total embargo seems the least we could do.
Warmer weather will emboldened Europe greatly. Chinese food security will become an issue
War is hell etc.
Still, the mass rapes and deliberate civilian torture and executions is more than I expected. Makes the US Army looks good by comparison.
Then again, this https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1510169194465271812 and this https://twitter.com/sumlenny/status/1510171026696646656 are truest of true war crimes – where the Kremlin cannot blame lower level troops going rogue. It’s top down planning – even if the word genocide is out of place.
War is not hell; it is murder, whether we do it, the Russians do it or anyone else does it. It was ever thus and ever will be. The Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” Yet people calling themselves Christians do it daily, with many begging forgiveness or making an excuse afterwards. All armies are composed of trained killers. That’s the point, isn’t i?. So is the Bible right or not? It doesn’t say thou shalt not kill unless there is a good reason, or you are being disrespected, or you don’t agree with someone, it says don’t kill period! And when asked what one should do if another strikes him, Jesus said, turn the other cheek. That seems to be the part of being a Christian that most Christians don’t like very much. When people are killed by soldiers, it’s murder, pure and simple, no matter who does it. Anyone who puts another label on this act is a sociopath or a hypocrite or both.
H. I don’t intend this to be flip. Four or five people were murdered last weekend where I live in KC. Six killed and more than a dozen wounded in Sacramento. Thousands murdered in the Ukraine. Enough already!
Well, your point makes it obvious why no one is really christian. “Many are called, but few are chosen”.
Given that being truly Christian is a recipe for elimination at the end of people with slightly more realistic morals, that kinds of check out.
But there are gradients in all things, including mass murder. The deliberate planning of decapitating a nation is something we haven’t seen in a long while. AFAIK, the last time was during WWII and the dismembering of Poland between Nazi Germany and Stalinist Soviet Russia where Polish leaders and thinkers were targeted for elimination.
at the hands of… not “the end of”… d’oh.
Interesting, but not surprising that Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing had some fearmongering comments that support Russia’s agenda.
Deutsche Bank is actually the largest Russian bank (by deposits) and is central to the Kremlin’s global scheme to launder billions of Dollars/Euros as it was extorted, embezzled, stolen from the Russian economy by the Russian mafia aka Putin’s inner circle. The original scheme, used the Cypress banking system as the conduit banks to attempt to cover the tracks.
The German government knows this, but fearing a global banking collapse instead of publicly announcing the findings developed a plan to slow bleed Deutsche Bank. It’s why they were forced to sell off numerous assets and the stock is 14% of it’s ATH, a stark under performance compared to peers.
Also, fun fact: Justice Kennedy, who surprisingly resigned his seat on SCOTUS in 2018, to be replaced by a hand picked, pro-autocracy crony Justice, has a son who worked for the division of Deutsche Bank (which no longer exists) that was responsible for global private wealth management, and in fact he focused his portfolio of clients on Russian interests and a certain wanna-be president of the US. I believe (just my opinion) they used the potential exposure of his sons crimes as kompromat to force his resignation.
I say this to point out that global leaders have yet to be honest publicly about how much of the global banking balance sheet (deposits specifically) is from illicit/illegal sources and just how much influence Putin has over Western institutions of finance and governance. It will be interesting to see if the US banks will be able to hide the Russian frozen assets on their next 10-K. Theoretically, they would have to report restricted liabilities, which we could assume any unusually large change in this figure would be the Russian sanctions. Normally this number would be immaterial and likely not even mentioned, but…
Also- John Bolton on Bloomberg just characterized the Western response to the Ukraine invasion as “feckless”. I hate starting days realizing I agree with John Bolton and/or his mustache on something.
Unfortunately, when a situation exists in the world that does not make sense from the perspective of “what is best for the populace, the Earth or global peace”- it is generally due to the fact that someone or some group of people are benefiting financially, in an outsized way, from the current state of affairs. Accordingly, they do not want to see a change- if that means they will have to give up economic prosperity (even if such change would significantly benefit humanity).
Human greed will be our downfall resulting in the “wrong” decisions/actions. It is extremely difficult for an individual to go up against this imbedded system that exists almost everywhere, whether you live in a western, pseudo-democracy (1/8 of global population) or an autocratic regime (7/8 of global population).
NATO sent the message that Russian use of chemical weapons will bring NATO into the war. Biden stated “we would respond if he uses it. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use” and NATO Sec’y Gen’l said “Any use of chemical weapons will completely change the nature of the conflict” and “will have widespread consequences”. So far it appears that message was received.
I would think there is some level of atrocity using non-chemical, non-nuclear weapons that will bring NATO into the war. NATO should send teams (armed, of course) into Bucha and other Ukrainian cities to verify the atrocities first-hand. That would send a message to Putin that he is nearing that line.
It goes without saying, I think, that any foot-dragging and timidity about sending Ukraine weapons of any (conventional) nature needs to end immediately.
It’s impossible to fathom the depths of this tragic horror and the madness, the ugliness and evil that’s projected by Putin. It’s also unimaginable to ponder Putin’s good friends trump and Moscow Mitch to inject their cancer cells back into Making America Great, by worshipping Satan himself.
I don’t scan news much, but I do see headlines of republicans lobbying in support of Putin and the political machines dragging sleeping joe into the inflation monster.
It would be bad enough if we just had dirty politics and bullying, but to see the Ukraine horror unfold and then have republicans supporting it simply goes well beyond their hypocrisy of being fake christian white boys. There are literally few words to describe a political party that’s so deplorable. I can’t comprehend the level of disdain these people have for decency, a complete political party that’s mutated itself into a machine of evil.
It’s terrifying to imagine how this new republican mindset will reshape the future if America. Perhaps it’s easy to tune out Ukraine misery, like a Vietnam newscast in the 60’s, but Nixon wasn’t praising communism or welcoming bloodthirsty leaders into the Oval Office and referring to Mao as a genius!
It’s terrifying to know that’s where we’re heading, into a totally new era where insanity as a cancer is manifested in our next form of government.
I certainly hope I’m wrong, but it looks to me like the writing is on the wall and the message I clearly read is evil ahead, beware!
H-Man, it will be written in history as the “Butchers of Bucha”. Right now the US and NATO need to give Ukraine MIGs. As a commentator said tonight (a former general) “We give them drones but not MIGs”. I agree it makes no sense. Ukraine has pilots (trained in the US) who can fly MIGs, so just give them the damn air power they need. The Russians have been hammered on the ground which is why they are retreating and regrouping. The US seems to talk a good game but when it gets down to the nuts and bolts we are letting these people get slaughtered while we have esoteric discussions on “war crimes”. Our country needs to get off the fence and deliver the bacon.