Russia has been committing war crimes far before its unprovoked February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. David J. Kramer, Executive Director of the Bush Institute, participated in a live webinar hosted by the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation on April 1 to discuss the “savage, barbaric behavior” of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Crimea and beyond, including human rights abuses and genocide.
The webinar was moderated by Co-Founder and President of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Nadia McConnell. Kramer joined panelists Kateryna Shynkaruk, a political analyst and scholar of international politics, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe; and Maria Tomak, Head of the Crimea Platform Department at the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
When discussing the Kremlin, Kramer said, “They don’t attach any value to their own citizens, and so we shouldn’t be shocked that they don’t attach any value to the lives of Ukrainians. We shouldn’t be shocked that they don’t attach any value to the concepts of sovereignty and territorial integrity, that they don’t respect the independence of Ukraine or Moldova or Belarus or Georgia or any other state in the region.”
