Trudeau backs Biden: 'Absolutely right' to call Russian invasion of Ukraine a 'genocide'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday stated that he believed it is "absolutely right" that more people use the word "genocide" to describe the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, Trudeau did not himself echo US President Joe Biden's remarks delivered at Iowa where he for the first time referred to the atrocities in Ukraine caused by withdrawing Russian troops as "genocide". Biden, however, fell short of making a formal declaration, saying that he would "let lawyers decide" if the designation was appropriate.

“I think as (US) President (Joe) Biden highlighted, there are official processes around determinations of genocide. But I think it’s absolutely right that more and more people be talking and using the word ‘genocide’ in terms of what Russia is doing, what Vladimir Putin has done,” the Canadian PM told reporters.

Trudeau also seconded Biden's statement stressing that the "targetted attacks" against civilians, including a bombing at a train station in Ukraine that killed 57 last week and reports of alleged sexual violence were examples of what the world calls "war crimes" or crimes against humanity. “The way that they’re attacking Ukrainian identity and culture, these are all things that are war crimes that Putin is responsible for. These are all things that are crimes against humanity,” Trudeau added. Apart from Trudeau and Biden, some European leaders have also levied the charge against Moscow of committing heinous war crimes in Ukraine but the US and Canada have remained very cautious about using the term.

Shortly after reports of over 400 corpses from Ukraine's Bucha town emerged, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the killings in the area constituted "genocide". On Wednesday, Zelenskyy hailed Biden's remarks as the "true world of a true leader", adding that "calling things by the name is essential to stand up to evil."

Why does it matter if world leaders use 'genocide' to describe Russian actions?

Genocide comes from two words "Geno" meaning race in Greek and "cide" meaning kill in Latin. It was first used by the UN General Assembly against Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and his accomplices for having slaughtered 6 million Jews. “Any attempt to determine whether the crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are driven by genocidal intent must necessarily focus on the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Bohdan Vitvitsky, a former U.S. federal prosecutor and former special adviser to Ukraine's prosecutor general, wrote for the Atlantic Council think tank this week, as quoted by Associated Press. Biden and other western leaders have called for Putin's 'war crime' trial, accusing him of committing mass killings in Ukraine, which is the kind of punishment that the genocide convention demands.

(Image: AP)