Russia has incited genocide in Ukraine — independent experts conclude
Russia is responsible for inciting genocide and perpetrating atrocities that show an “intent to destroy” the Ukrainian people, a new legal analysis signed by more than 30 independent experts concluded. The report, published on May 27, 2022, by the Washington-based New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy and the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, also concludes that there is a “serious risk of genocide in Ukraine,” and that states have a legal obligation to prevent genocide from occurring.
The joint report included input from about three dozen experts on genocide and international law, including several former ambassadors and others involved in the creation and proceedings of international criminal tribunals.
Their analysis pointed to a genocidal pattern of Russian forces’ targeting of Ukrainian civilians, including evidence of mass executions and torture of civilians in areas that were occupied by Russian forces, such as the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, as well as deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuation routes, and humanitarian corridors; sieges of Ukrainian cities; and indiscriminate bombing of residential areas. The report also cited sexual violence and the forcible deportation of Ukrainians to Russia.
