The US President Joe Biden, calling Russian head of state Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”, personalized the conflict, which American leaders had previously avoided, and also made a personal position public policy, writes the New York Times.
Biden has previously said he considers Putin a “war criminal”. Commenting on this statement by RIA Novosti, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov called such rhetoric of the President of the country, from the bombs of which hundreds of thousands of people around the world died, unacceptable and unforgivable.
Biden also personalized the conflict in a way that former presidents avoided in moments of crisis with the US’s nuclear-weapon archrival. His remark showed how personal condemnation has become politics.
In addition, the publication notes that Biden’s words about Putin were not prepared in advance, but were said “impromptu”.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.”
For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine”, to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for “bloody crimes against civilians” in Donbass.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces only strike at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. With the support of the Russian Armed Forces, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive, but there is no talk of the occupation of Ukraine, the Russian president stressed.