Biden orders US to share Russian war crimes evidence with ICC despite Pentagon concerns: Report
Mike Brest
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President Joe Biden has reportedly ordered his administration to begin sharing evidence of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court.
Biden’s recent decision, first reported by the New York Times on Wednesday, came amid opposition from the Department of Defense.
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A national security spokesperson declined to confirm the president’s decision specifically, telling the Washington Examiner, “Since the beginning of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, the president has been clear: There needs to be accountability for the perpetrators and enablers of war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine.”
The spokesperson went on to say that the administration supports international investigations conducted by Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General, the Joint Investigative Team through Eurojust, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission, and the Expert Missions established under the OSCE’s “Moscow Mechanism.”
“We have deployed teams of international investigators and prosecutors to assist Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General in documenting, preserving, and preparing war crimes cases for prosecution, and the Department of Justice has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate with Ukraine on investigations and prosecutions of war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the spokesman continued.
In May, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressed his “concerns about reciprocity going forward,” and said he will “always prioritize the protection of U.S. military personnel in anything we do.”
Late last year, Congress modified long-standing policies on Americans aiding the ICC, specifically with the intent of helping prosecute Russian war crimes.
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The ICC announced an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March, accusing him of being responsible for the thousands of children who have been forcibly deported to Russia where they’ve undergone political reeducation training. They also issued an arrest warrant for Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, whom they said also shared responsibility for the deportations.
The Kremlin quickly denounced and dismissed the warrant. It is, however, preventing Putin from attending an economic summit next month in Johannesburg, South Africa, because officials there would be obligated to arrest him.