War crimes in Ukraine should be punished - Justice should prevail

Dear Icelandic friends,

I would like to comment the recent Facebook statement of the Ambassador of russia to Iceland regarding kind and generous solidarity and practical support of the whole Icelandic society to Ukraine in response to unseen from the WWII bloodshed and atrocities unfolded by russia in Ukraine since February 24, 2022.

For two months the whole world has witnessed a brutal genocide against Ukrainian people by russia. The human cost of the unprovoked russian invasion in Ukraine is horrific. It includes thousands of civilians killed or injured, including hundreds of kids, and also thousands of civilians, including kids and women, forcibly moved to the territory of russia. Millions lost their houses and had to flee from violence and destruction.

It's apparent that the actions of the armed forces of the russian federation against the civilian population on the territory of Ukraine are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Ukrainian nation as a distinct national group. It has been done by killing members of this group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life for Ukrainian population that is calculated to bring about the physical destruction in whole or in part of the Ukrainian nation, the forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to the territory of russia. According to information from various sources, more than 121,000 children have already been forcibly deported to the russian federation.

There are numerous well-documented evidences of mass atrocities perpetrated by the armed forces of the russian federation in the temporarily occupied territories (in particular in the cities of Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, urban-type settlements Borodyanka, Hostomel, and many other places of Ukraine) which include numerous instances of murder, enforced disappearance, imprisonment, torture, rape, desecration of corpses, executions of people and entire families, including children that tried to evacuate from the occupied settlements of Donetsk, Kyiv, Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv regions. After the liberation of the territories occupied by the russian federation, more and more such horrific, inhuman, and cynical deeds come to the light.

The occupiers are intentionally targeting the civilian population, civilian facilities, and specially protected sites (hospitals, schools, kindergartens) as in Mariupol (dropping bombs on the maternity hospital and on the theater which served as a shelter for civilians and near which the inscription 'Children' was made), essentially destroying entire cities (Volnovakha, Izyum, Mariupol, Okhtyrka, Chernihiv, Shchastia and a number of other settlements). The aggressor damaged and destroyed almost 14 000 residential houses, 324 hospitals, 1141 educational institutions, almost 300 kindergartens, and also religious sites, farms, agricultural equipment, administrative and industrial complexes. Russian military forces have destroyed 30% of all infrastructure with varying degrees of damage. More than 300 bridges had been destroyed or damaged, more than 8,000 km of roads had to be repaired or rebuilt and dozens of railway bridges had been blown up.

On 3 March 2022 the Moscow Mechanism of the human dimension of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was invoked by Ukraine supported by 45 participating States. Consequently, a Mission of three experts was appointed on 14 March 2022, which according to the rules of the Moscow Mechanism was to complete its work within three weeks and therefore delivered its report to Ukraine as the inviting state on 5 April 2022. The mission found clear patterns of the International Humanitarian Law violations by the russian forces in their conduct of hostilities in Ukraine. The mission also underlined in its report that the conduct of russian forces displayed in the parts of Ukraine it occupied before and after 24 February 2022, including through its proxies, the self-proclaimed “republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, violates International Humanitarian Law of military occupation. It has found credible evidence suggesting that such violations concerning even the most fundamental human rights (right to life, prohibition of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment) have been committed, mostly in the areas under the effective control of russia or entities under overall control of russia.

Besieging of settlements, destruction of civilian infrastructure (electricity, water and heat supply, etc.) combined with blocking humanitarian aid and obstructing the evacuation of civilians, depriving the population of access to basic items indispensable for survival, namely water, food, heat in the cold season, medicines, and medical care. This is designed to inflict great suffering and ultimately achieve the physical destruction of civilians in many settlements in Ukraine. Just only on April 8 Russian troops launched a missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station, which claimed the lives of 52 people, among them five children. Dozens more are heavily wounded and remain in hospitals, including children who lost their legs and arms.

Such actions constitute a war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as well as a crime against humanity of extermination of the civilian population. The besieging of such large cities as Mariupol and Chernihiv testifies to the intent of the russian to achieve the physical destruction of at least part of the Ukrainian nation.

The stated goal of russia’s military aggression is the ‘denazification’ of Ukraine. This term was created precisely to link the armed aggression to the destruction of the ‘nazis' who allegedly inhabit Ukraine. The russian leadership labels 'nazis' those Ukrainians who support the idea of the existence of a sole Ukrainian nation and who fight for the right of the Ukrainian nation to self-identification and its European future.

The website of the russian state-owned international news agency RIA Novosti on 3 April 2022 published an article entitled ‘What Russia Should Do to Ukraine’ stating that ‘denazification’ of Ukraine will inevitably constitute ‘de-Ukrainization' understood as the rejection of the large-scale and artificial inflation of the ethnic component of self-identification of the population of the historical territories of little russia and novorossiya.

Thus, the true objective of 'denazification' is the destruction of the Ukrainian nation, its distinct identity, and the deprivation of its right to independent development, and to deprive the Ukrainian nation to be a part of European space of prosperity and security.

Despite all evidence of war crimes, Russia is in complete denial about the massacres its military are committing in Ukraine. However, more than 6000 war crimes are under investigation by Ukrainian authorities, which has received comprehensive assistance on the ground from international team of investigators from the EU and US.

All the world should once and forever put aside russia’s fake narratives and always keep in mind that russia is an aggressor and russian leaders are war criminals. Ukraine relies on strong Iceland’s support to bring to the justice all responsible for horrific crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes in Ukraine, including russia’s political, military and business leaders who made all decisions, media influencers, who has promoted disinformation and propaganda campaign, and all officers and soldiers, who raped Ukrainian women and girls, even small kids, who have tortured and killed hundreds and thousands of civilians. The justice should prevail.

Ukraine will win this war. We will restore fully territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country. Ukraine will become the member of the EU. And for reaching this goals all civilized members of international community should make all possible to ensure that russia is deprived of all resources to maintain and continue its unjustified, unbearable and cruel attack against life, humanity, dignity and global stability, even against food security, while mining of agriculture fields and deliberate shelling of fuel storages and agricultural equipment in Ukraine pose the tremendous threat of food deficit not only in Ukraine, but on the global level.

Ukraine appreciates all the support, help and assistance from the world. However, much more has to be done to stop russia’s war machine and its atrocities against innocent people. The world can stop russia’s crimes by imposing an oil and gas embargo on russia without any delay or hesitation. Russia’s energy exports provide the main share of russia's profits, while economic dependence on russia allows the russian leadership to believe in its impunity. It gives grounds to russia’s hope that the world will ignore the war crimes of its army. All russian banks are part of the russian war machine maintaining in this or other way. They must be completely disconnected from the global financial system. It is unacceptable that the greatest threat to global security is finding its way to global wealth.

Everyone should also be aware that the continued presence of russia in the UN constitutes a serious threat to peace and security worldwide. Russia's participation in the UN does not meet the criteria for membership in this organization. The russian federation is not a peace-loving state, as evidenced by many of its international crimes and brutal disregard to international law. We also call on the international community to set up a procedure to suspend russia’s membership in the OSCE, as its participation in this organization constitutes a threat to security and cooperation in Europe.

Russia should be expelled from all international organization and could be returned only if all responsible for war crimes and the others violation of international law are punished, funds and assets of russia are used to rebuild Ukraine and the russia chooses civilized way of co-existence in the international arena.

I would like to use this opportunity to express our deepest gratefulness and appreciate for all kinds of support and assistance by Iceland, including valuable humanitarian assistance, protection for Ukrainian citizens and other kinds of practical coordination and assistance with other NATO member-states. We truly commend a firm commitment of Iceland to defending rule-based international order, international law and human rights. All Ukrainians will always remember how brave and proud Icelandic nation has supported Ukraine in this challenging time.

Höfundur er sendiherra Úkraínu gagnvart Íslandi og Finnlandi.