U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time on Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine amounts to genocide and then qualified the statement by saying that a legal process would make the final determination.
Biden used the term genocide in a speech at an ethanol plant in Iowa and later stood by the description as he prepared to board Air Force One.
“Yes, I called it genocide because it has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of being able to be Ukrainian and the evidence is mounting,” Biden told reporters.
He added: “We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.” Biden has repeatedly called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, but he has not declared that Russia has committed genocide in Ukraine.
“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away,” Biden said at an event in Iowa on fuel prices. The president referred to expensive gasoline as a “Putin price hike.”
Under international law, genocide is an intent to destroy – in whole or in part – a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. According to the U.N. convention, this includes killings; serious bodily or mental harm; inflicting lethal conditions, and measures to prevent births, among other means.
