War re Ukraine: Thread

[grarpamp]

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-05-10/lithuanian-lawmakers-brand-russian-actions-in-ukraine-as-genocide-terrorism

NATO Country Among 1st To Adopt Law Declaring Russia's Invasion
"Genocide" & "Terrorism"

The Baltic country of Lithuania has become among the first NATO member
countries to formally call Russia's military action in Ukraine a
"genocide" while legally declaring the invasion state-sponsored
"terrorism".

Its parliament voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt the motion into
law, also calling for future Nuremberg style war crimes trials for top
Russian officials - something which most pundits and legal experts
agree is likely impossible to practically carry out.
Lithuanian parliament in Vilnius: The Associated Press

Reuters details that "The motion, co-sponsored by Prime Minister
Ingrida Simonyte, said Russian forces' war crimes in Ukraine included
the deliberate killing of civilians, mass rape, forcible relocation of
Ukrainian citizens to Russia and the destruction of economic
infrastructure and cultural sites."

"The Russian Federation, whose military forces deliberately and
systematically select civilian targets for bombing, is a state that
supports and perpetrates terrorism," the Lithuanian parliamentary
motion reads. It follows a prior similar designation by Canada's
parliament.

In mid-April, President Joe Biden raised eyebrows in calling Russia's
invasion a "genocide" for the first time. It was met with some
controversy among analysts in the United States given that the United
Nations' definition for formal application of the term has strict
requirements and typically isn't thrown around loosely.

A Russian parliament official was the first to respond to the
Lithuanian action, explaining that the Baltic state is merely
obediently following Washington's lead:

    Leonid Slutsky, head of the International Affairs Committee of
Russia's lower house of parliament, said the resolution was not
legally binding and that it merely repeated what he called the United
States' Russophobic views.

    He said the resolution was part of an "anti-Russia project" and
biased actions against Russia that "have nothing to do with reality,"
the TASS news agency cited him as saying.

A month ago Ukraine's President Zelensky spoke virtually to Lithuanian
parliament, which is in the capital of Vilnius, and declared that the
country had been the "first" in Europe to come to Ukraine's aid.

“Dear Lithuanians, I am grateful to address you on behalf of the
Ukrainian people today. You have been among the first to come to
Ukraine’s aid. You remain among those who care most about peace and
security in Europe,” he told the lawmakers. His message to various
bodies of friendly countries' lawmakers worldwide has focused heavily
on allegations of Russian war crimes, claiming also that Russian
forces actively target Ukrainian civilians - a charge the Kremlin has
consistently denied.