WASHINGTON, May 17 – The US State Department on Tuesday announced the launch of a new program to collect and analyze evidence of war crimes and other atrocities allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine as Washington seeks to ensure that Moscow being held accountable for actions.
The State Department said in a statement that the so-called conflict observatory will include the documentation, verification and dissemination of open-source evidence about Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Reports and analyzes are made available through the Conflict Observatory’s website.
US President Joe Biden has denounced Russia for what he calls “serious war crimes” committed in Ukraine and underscored his determination to hold Moscow accountable for instigating the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.
The Kiev government has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality against civilians during the invasion and said it had identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes.
Russia denies attacking civilians and says without evidence signs of atrocities were staged.
The US State Department said the new program, which will be established with an initial investment of $6 million, will analyze and preserve information, including satellite imagery and information shared on social media, for use in ongoing and future accountability mechanisms can become.
“This new Conflict Observatory program is part of a series of efforts by the US government at the national and international levels aimed at ensuring future accountability for Russia’s horrific actions,” the statement said.
The program is a collaboration with geographic information systems company Esri, Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative and PlanetScape Ai, the State Department said, adding that future funding will come from the European Democratic Resilience Initiative.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States has been engaged through a variety of mechanisms to collect and document evidence of potential war crimes and atrocities with relevant prosecutors, government agencies and organizations.
But the new program, he told reporters, will make those findings available to the public and authorities in relevant jurisdictions, including Ukraine and possibly the United States, “so that prosecutors may even build criminal cases based on the released material.” be able .”
A Ukrainian court on Friday held a preliminary hearing in the first war crimes trial linked to Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion after charging a captured Russian soldier with the murder of a 62-year-old civilian. Continue reading
Russia has reduced cities to rubble and hundreds of civilians have been found in cities from which its forces have withdrawn since it launched a so-called special operation to demilitarize Ukraine. Kyiv and its western allies say it is an unfounded pretext for an unprovoked war.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on April 25 it would take part in a joint team with Ukrainian, Polish and Lithuanian prosecutors investigating war crimes allegations against Russian forces.
Ukraine has little experience in prosecuting such cases. Its parliament passed legislation last year to create a legal framework for prosecuting war crimes in line with international practice, Zera Kozlyieva, deputy head of the war crimes unit at the Attorney General’s Office, said last month.
She said the country had previously convicted just three people for crimes between 2014 and the invasion in February this year. These were related to the conflict in the disputed Donbass region and Russia-annexed Crimea.
Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis Editing by Bill Berkrot