President Joe Biden on Tuesday appeared for the first time to label Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine genocide.
Speaking in Menlo, Iowa, about his Build a Better America agenda and efforts to lower energy prices, the president said a family’s financial situation in the U.S. should not be dependent on another leader’s attacks “half a world away,” in remarks likely aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away,” Biden said.
Biden’s notable shift in rhetoric comes as other administration officials have so far avoided using the genocide designation. From national security adviser Jake Sullivan to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, officials have said they’re monitoring the situation and have yet to reach consensus on whether the atrocities in Ukraine “rise to the level of genocide.”
“Based on what we have seen so far, we have seen atrocities,” Sullivan said last week. “We have seen war crimes. We have not seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide.”
The U.S. has long been reluctant to designate genocides. Just three weeks ago, the Biden administration formally labeled the Myanmar military’s actions against the country’s minority Rohingya population in 2016 and 2017 genocide and crimes against humanity.
A flood of horrid imagery poured out of Ukraine last week, with the scenes out of Bucha prompting Biden to say Putin should be put on trial for war crimes. The Justice Department also announced last week that it was contributing to international investigations into alleged war crimes, further escalating U.S. involvement in holding Moscow legally accountable.
Tuesday’s rhetoric from Biden, whether a slip up or intentional, isn’t the first time he’s led the administration in a shift toward stronger language. Biden was one of the first U.S. officials to call Putin a war criminal, language other administration officials began to use freely in the following days and weeks.
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