Biden appears to accuse Russia of genocide in Ukraine

[WASHINGTON] US President Biden appeared to refer to Russia's invasion of Ukraine as genocide for the first time on Tuesday (Apr 12) with a declaration that Americans' ability to pay for petrol should not hinge on whether a dictator "commits genocide" half a world away.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remark. 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 petrol 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 UN convention, this includes through killings; serious bodily or mental harm; inflicting lethal conditions and measures to prevent births, among other means.

Biden has made a handful of statements about the war that US officials have later had to walk back. The president stirred controversy on a recent trip to Poland when he ad-libbed a line at the end of a speech and said that Putin should not be allowed to remain in power. The White House clarified that US policy was not to seek regime change.

Genocide, considered the most serious international offence, was first used to describe the Nazi Holocaust. It was established in 1948 as a crime under international law in a United Nations convention.

Since the end of the Cold War, the State Department has formally used the term 7 times. These were to describe massacres in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq and Darfur; the Islamic State's attacks on Yazidis and other minorities; China's treatment of Uighurs and other Muslims and this year over the Myanmar army's persecution of the Rohingya minority. China denies the genocide claims.

At the State Department, such a determination normally follows a meticulous internal process. Still, the final decision is up to the secretary of state, who weighs whether the move would advance American interests, officials said.

A determination of genocide does not automatically unleash punitive US action. But human rights advocates say it can help mobilise an international response to prevent further atrocities. REUTERS