“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It is becoming increasingly clear that Putin is simply trying to dispel the idea of even being Ukrainian.” At an earlier event in Menlo, Iowa, Biden had hinted at the sudden rise in energy prices caused by the war, saying he believed Putin was committing genocide against Ukraine, but gave no details. Neither he nor his government have announced new consequences for Russia or aid to Ukraine following Biden’s public assessment. Biden’s comments praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country. “True words of a true leader @POTUS,” he wrote on Twitter. “To say things by name is necessary to resist evil. “We are grateful for the US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.” A United Nations treaty to which the United States is a party defines genocide as “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Former US leaders have often refrained from formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s in Ukraine a genocide, reluctant to enforce an obligation under the international treaty that requires signatory countries to intervene as soon as genocide is officially recognized. This obligation was seen as preventing President Bill Clinton from declaring, for example, the killing of 800,000 Tutsis in 1994 by Rwandan Hutus as genocide. Biden said it would be up to lawyers to decide whether Russia’s behavior meets international standards for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but said “it certainly seems so to me.” “More evidence is coming out of the horrific things the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we will learn more and more about the disaster and let lawyers decide internationally whether they qualify or not,” he said. Just last week, Biden did not believe that Russia’s actions were tantamount to genocide, simply that they constituted “war crimes.” During a trip to Europe last month, Biden sparked controversy over a nine-word statement that’s seemingly in favor of regime change in Moscow, which would represent a dramatic shift to a direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed country. “In the name of God, this man can not stay in power,” Biden said. He clarified the comments days later, saying: “I was expressing the moral anger I felt towards this man. I did not articulate a policy change. “ – Miller reported from Washington. AP author Ellen Knickmeyer contributed.
