The International Criminal Court at The Hague has opened an investigation into possible war crimes related to Russia’s unlawful and unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
“I have reviewed the Office’s conclusions arising from the preliminary examination of the Situation in Ukraine, and have confirmed that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with opening an investigation,” International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said Monday, as Axios reports.
“Given the expansion of the conflict in recent days, it is my intention that this investigation will also encompass any new alleged crimes falling within the jurisdiction of my Office that are committed by any party to the conflict on any part of the territory of Ukraine.”
The Director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, Larry Sabato, responded by appearing to mock Russian President Vladimir Putin:
The Guardian adds that “Lithuania previously called on the ICC to open an investigation into war crimes committed by Russia and Belarus in Ukraine, with Lithuania’s prime minister, Ingrida Simonyte, telling the Washington Post: ‘What Putin is doing is just a murder and nothing else, and I hope he will be in The Hague.'”