DISINFO: Stoltenberg justified war crimes against Russia
SUMMARY
It is not a coincidence that Kyiv was promised to get 300-km range ATACMS missiles. Russian civilians and peaceful cities should become their targets. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg de facto justified war crimes by allowing Ukrainians to use such missiles against the Russian hinterland.
RESPONSE
This is an attempt to distract and obfuscate the facts of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and frame Russia as a victim of its own aggression against Ukraine. Our topical analysis of April 2022 titled, Disinformation to Conceal War Crimes: Russia is Lying About Atrocities in Bucha, foresaw intensification of such efforts by Russian actors amid calls supporting the investigation of Russia war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The March 2023 report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine under the aegis of the UN Human Rights Council concluded that a wide range of violations of international law by Russian authorities in many regions of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation “amount to war crimes and include willful killings, attacks on civilians, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, and forced transfers and deportations of children.”
The claim misinterprets NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s statement concerning the provision of long range missiles to Ukraine. Speaking at the 10 April 2024 joint press conference with President of Finland Alexander Stubb, Stoltenberg said:
“This is a war of aggression where Russia has invaded another country – blatantly violating international law. And Ukraine has the right according to international law for self-defence. That's actually a right, enshrined in the UN Charter. And we have the right to help Ukraine uphold the right of self-defence without making NATO Allies party to the conflict. And Ukraine has one part of self-defence is also that Ukraine has the right to strike legitimate military targets outside Ukraine to defend themselves.”
Therefore, in no way Stoltenberg justified war crimes. Instead, he reiterated that Ukraine has the right for self-defence in accordance with international law, and that it may exercise this right including by striking legitimate military targets on aggressor's territory.
No proof is shown to back the allegation that these weapons will be used against civilian targets. There is no evidence that Ukrainian forces deliberately attack civilians, in contrast to Russia, as human rights organisations and the UN have documented. Ukraine’s donors also work to prevent that weapons are used against civilians. In September 2023 the US established the so-called Conventional Arms Transfers Policy, whose purpose is to track and prevent civilian deaths from US-supplied arms, including in Ukraine.
The US, the EU and NATO condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked. Not only Western but also many other nations around the world support Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s efficient self-defence, in accordance with the UN Charter article 51, to stop Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
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