The international community has been appalled by the evidence of war crimes emerging from Ukraine. Evidence from the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, recently liberated from occupying Russian forces, implicates those forces in the torture, rape, and mass execution of civilians. Evidence of similar atrocities is likely to emerge from other locales such as Mariupol, which for now remains under Chechen occupation.
Responding to these images of despair and the associated revulsion they have provoked in Western populations, Britain and the European Union are calling for new sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s government. French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ban on Russian oil and coal exports on Monday. Germany is strongly hinting it would support associated sanctions action.
The U.S. response to these war crimes? So far, dithering and pointless rhetoric. On Monday, President Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin should be put on trial for war crimes. Sounds great, but Biden knows Putin will almost certainly never face a war crimes trial. It’s a distraction. The possibility of greater sanctions against Russia is not a distraction, but all Biden would say about it on Monday was, “I’ll let you know.”
This means the White House national security council is in one of its marathon escalation risk-assessment sessions, weighing up how weak the U.S. response to Moscow’s latest outrage can possibly be without being truly embarrassing. This is disastrously weak leadership, and unfortunately, it fits a trend with Biden.
Biden deserves credit for unifying NATO around the defense of vulnerable allies, but he has been far less resolute in his support for Ukraine. In the buildup to Russia’s invasion, the Biden administration slow-rolled the delivery of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. When allies asked for U.S. approval to transfer U.S.-manufactured weapons to Ukraine, they met similar delay tactics from Biden.
Where they have been delivered, the scale and quality of U.S weapons deliveries to Ukraine have also been lacking — something Republicans and numerous Democrats in Congress have complained about. At the same time, administration officials have obsessed over reminding Russia they do not plan direct military intervention in Ukraine. Absurdly, they have also delayed, and now canceled, long-planned U.S. ballistic missile tests. This reeks of a hesitation to lead the free world against the most serious threat to its interests since the darkest days of the Cold War.
Biden needs to drop this risk-averse approach and show some resolve. This means imposing unprecedented costs on Russia for its war crimes, rallying the world, and ensuring Putin knows he cannot intimidate the international community into another round of appeasement.
As a first step, Biden should endorse Europe’s immediate restriction of imports of Russian energy supplies. He should introduce secondary sanctions on multinational companies and nations, including China and India, which continue to do business with Russia (and push allies to do the same). He should openly ask China whether Russian war crimes fall under Beijing’s oft-stated banner of “win-win cooperation.”
Biden should call for Russian flagged vessels of any kind to be denied access to international ports. He should push Israel to seize the assets of Russian-Israeli oligarchs who have relocated there. In concert with Britain (which seeks a stronger response to Russia’s invasion), Biden should significantly escalate the supply of artillery and tactical drones to Ukrainian forces. These weapons could annihilate Russian logistics trains and lines of communications. He should push nations further afield such as Japan to end their engagement with more lucrative Russian dealings in the energy sector.
In his inaugural address, Biden pledged to be a “strong and trusted partner for peace, progress, and security.” It’s time to cut the empty rhetoric and start living up to that promise in action.
