JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia must be held to full account for its aggression” – Politico.eu/ Andreas Umland
“On its own, a Ukrainian battlefield victory won’t be sufficient if Russia’s wrongs are left intact and its crimes unpunished.”
“… [N]either Ukraine nor … international law and justice would be fully served if Russia’s wrongs were left intact and its crimes unpunished. … [L]arge-scale displacement and deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russia’s most abhorrent offences … a concerted campaign to put hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian minors under permanent Russian control, tutelage and brainwashing — with or without their relatives. … [T]here are other long-term issues … such as the return of Ukrainian prisoners of war and deported civilians … and the prosecution of thousands of war criminals. It also remains unclear how exactly Russia would make … large reparation payments …. Ukraine’s victory would be only partial … mak[ing] the hesitancy plaguing Western help surprising. Given … political, legal and humanitarian issues that cannot be resolved on the battlefield, at least military support should be unreserved. … Russia [ruthlessness] has diminished the stability of … European security …, the coherence of the international order, and the power of the Western community of states. … [T]he longer the war lasts, the larger the damage ….”