A top U.S. ambassador in Europe confirmed on Thursday that the Kremlin has drawn up kill lists targeting Ukrainian leaders and has a plan to put down protests with “lethal measures.”
In an address to other diplomats, Ambassador Michael Carpenter said, “We have credible information that indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation.”
Carpenter, the U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, also told the council, “We also have credible information that occupying Russian forces will likely use lethal measures to disperse protests or otherwise counter perceived resistance. Given what we have seen in past Russian operations, we expect that the Russian Federation will try to force the population to cooperate through intimidation, abuse, and repression — including through targeted killings, kidnappings, detentions, and physical abuse.”
The comments raised images of communist-era roundups.
So far, Ukrainians have not appeared to be intimidated by the Russian troops. Many have been shown training with guns and firebombs for the first time and using them against the invading forces.
In his comments, Carpenter pressed for an international humanitarian campaign. The Biden administration has pushed forward a $32 billion bill.
And as past administrations have tried to do in separating Muslim terrorists from Muslim people, Carpenter urged the world to separate the Kremlin leadership from the Russian people.
“I want to point out that the blanket term ‘Russia’ applies first and foremost to the Russian government and its representatives, but not to all Russians. As the Russian dissident and opposition politician, and also my friend, Vladimir Kara-Murza wrote recently, ‘It’s not just the West that opposes Putin’s war on Ukraine. A lot of Russians do, too,’” he said.
