The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-24)

A16 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, MAY 24 , 2022

War in Ukraine

BY ISHAAN THAROOR,

BRYAN PIETSCH

AND LATESHIA BEACHUM

davos, switzerland — Ukrai-

nian President Volodymyr Zel-

ensky urged the world’s political

and business elite to set “new

precedents” for punishment for

Russia’s invasion of his country,

calling for attendees at the open-

ing session of the World Eco-

nomic Forum to “decide whether

brute force will rule the world.”

“Ukraine is short on time,”

Zelensky said Monday in a virtu-

al address from Kyiv to the

mountain-ringed halls of Davos.

“This year, the words ‘turning

point’ are to become more than

just a rhetorical phrase,” Zel-

ensky said in a nod to the

meeting’s theme, “History at a

Turning Point.”

Zelensky’s words were heard

at the strangest of Davos forums,

where for more than 50 years

political and financial elites and

even adversaries have chummily

met in a Swiss ski resort town to

debate global economic perils

and possibilities. War has hard-

ened relationships since the Rus-

sian invasion of Ukraine in Feb-

ruary, though, and a walk past

the “Russia House” where no one

from Russia could be found of-

fered a vivid example.

The Russia House once was a

standard fixture of Russian soft

power at Davos and an outpost of

the Russian lobbying group

Roscongress Foundation. On

Monday, the site where Russian

and international officials had

regularly met for cocktail-fueled

schmoozing had signs in its win-

dows from Ukrainian activists

and allies: “This used to be the

Russian House in Davos. Now it’s

the Russian War Crimes House in

Davos.”

No Russian representatives,

from government or business,

were invited to this year’s Davos

forum, which usually takes place

in the winter. It is the first forum

since the 1990s — when armed

conflicts broke among nations of

the former Yugoslavia — to be

held while war rages on the

continent.

Zelensky took note of the new

look of the Russia House and

named it as the “Russian War

Crimes House.”

“Russia has done it to itself by

becoming a state of war crimi-

nals,” he said in the video ad-

dress.

Zelensky also urged business

leaders to carry out a “complete

withdrawal of foreign business-

es” in Russia and relocate their

enterprises to Ukraine. He called

for international assistance to

unblock his country’s Black Sea

ports to speed Ukrainian agricul-

tural exports to countries around

the world, and he floated the idea

of a diplomatic “corridor” to

move these goods.

The Ukrainian president ex-

pressed thanks for the military

aid and equipment rushed to the

country, as well as to the “hun-

dreds of millions of people in

democratic countries” who he

said were putting pressure on

their governments to confront

the Russian invasion.

But he added that if Ukraine’s

long-standing pleas for better

weaponry and stiffer sanctions

on Russia had been heard earlier,

Russia probably would not have

been able to invade.

Zelensky stressed that, when-

ever the war ends, Ukraine’s

allies need to create the security

and political conditions that will

dissuade Russia from invading

again. And he had data to consid-

er: So far, Ukraine has sustained

at least half a trillion dollars in

losses, he said.

“With a neighbor like this,

anything can happen any time,

and the war may repeat itself,”

Zelensky said.

Senior Ukrainian officials are

slated to attend Davos in person,

including the foreign minister,

two deputy prime ministers and

the mayor of Kyiv, and there are a

slew of Ukraine-related panels at

the conference. One panel focus-

es on humanitarian needs, an-

other is about “health care in

times of crisis,” and another

addresses food deficits triggered

by the loss of farming in Ukraine,

an economy that fed a global

supply chain of grains and cook-

ing oil.

The United States and other

nations have determined that

Russian troops have committed

war crimes, citing intelligence

and documentation of execution-

style killings on civilians in the

port city of Mariupol. President

Biden has called the invasion a

“genocide.” Russia has said that

the allegations are false and that

no war crimes are being commit-

ted in Ukraine.

The Victor Pinchuk Founda-

tion and the PinchukArtCentre

worked with Ukrainian officials,

artists and media outlets to turn

the Russia House into a space

that “highlight how Ukrainians

defend democracy and their free-

dom not only in a physical war,

but also in a social and political

front,” the foundation said in a

statement.

The foundation, named for

Ukrainian oligarch and business-

man Victor Pinchuk, “aims to

inform about the main facts,

share faces, names and dates and

provide at least some of the

victims a platform from which to

tell their real story.”

Zelensky calls out ‘a state of war

criminals’; ‘Russia House’ made over

Ukraine, which is a party to

the European Convention on Hu-

man Rights, appears to be adher-

ing to international guidelines

on prosecuting war crimes, legal

experts said, including the right

of the defendant to a competent

lawyer and fair trial by an inde-

pendent court.

Ukraine has welcomed a wide

range of war crimes investiga-

tions on its soil, including some

from the International Criminal

Court in The Hague.

International courts typically

defer to national courts if coun-

tries are able to pursue cases on

their own, but international law

offers a framework to pursue the

high-level commanders who are

ultimately responsible for war

crimes even if they themselves

are not in the field.

Ukrainian policymakers ha-

ven’t made clear how they are

deciding which cases they pur-

sue vs. those they hand to inter-

national courts.

They have said they welcome

the International Criminal

Court’s involvement to help bol-

ster the appearance of impartial-

ity.

The international legal assis-

tance comes alongside a wide

range of other practical help for

Kyiv as it continues to battle

Russia in its eastern territories.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Aus-

tin announced Monday that 20

countries had pledged new secu-

rity assistance packages for

Ukraine, including “critically

needed artillery ammunition,

coastal defense systems, and

tanks and other armored vehi-

cles.”

Austin singled out Denmark,

which he said promised to send

Ukraine “a Harpoon launcher

and missiles to help Ukraine

defend its coast,” as well as the

Czech Republic, which he said

gave a “recent donation of attack

helicopters, tanks and rocket sys-

tems.”

Other participating nations

have donated artillery rounds

and armored vehicles, or agreed

to provide the Ukrainians with

training and other help.

Some 47 nations are now coor-

dinating assistance through an

umbrella structure known as the

Ukraine Defense Contact Group,

which is scheduled to meet again

June 15 on the sidelines of a

NATO defense ministers minis-

terial session.

Pietsch reported from Seoul; Timsit

from London; Birnbaum and Westfall

from Washington. David L. Stern in

Mukachevo, Ukraine; Mary Ilyushina

in Riga, Latvia; and Paulina Villegas,

Claire Parker and Karoun Demirjian

in Washington contributed to this

report.

going.

Legal experts said that

Ukraine’s strategy of aggressively

prosecuting low-level soldiers

may carry risks, including that

Kyiv’s own soldiers in Russian

custody could face similar treat-

ment.

Robert Goldman, a war crimes

and human rights expert at

American University’s Washing-

ton College of Law, questioned

the decision to impose “the

harshest possible” on a low-rank-

ing soldier who said he was

carrying out orders.

“The sentence seems to reflect

a form of collective guilt,” Gold-

man said. “This soldier did not

plan and execute an aggressive

war. ... He will be seen in Russia

and other places as a scapegoat”

for Putin and other officials re-

sponsible for the invasion.

Goldman said the trial could

“engender reciprocal trials [by

Russia and its proxies in eastern

Ukraine] that will be utterly

devoid of due process. ... I think

that the idea that these Ukraini-

an soldiers will get an independ-

ent and impartial court tried by

Russia or its proxies is virtually

nil.”

burst of his rifle to satisfy the

demand that he shoot.

Shelipov’s widow, Kateryna

Shelipova, told the court last

week that her husband, a tractor

driver, had simply been on his

way to look at a tank that had

been blown up.

Citing one of Russian Presi-

dent Vladimir Putin’s unfounded

justifications for the war — that

Moscow was rescuing Ukraini-

ans from “Nazis” — she asked

Shishimarin: “What did you

come to us for? You came to

protect us? From whom? You

‘protected’ me from my husband,

whom you killed.”

The soldier replied: “Yes, I

admit guilt. I understand that

you will not be able to forgive me.

I ask for forgiveness for what was

done.”

While prisoners of war cannot

be tried for fighting in a conflict,

they can be prosecuted for war

crimes — including for deliber-

ately targeting civilians or at-

tacking hospitals or schools. A

separate trial involving two Rus-

sian soldiers charged with the

alleged shelling of civilian tar-

gets in the Kharkiv region of

northeastern Ukraine is on-

marin said he was ordered by an

officer — though not one he knew

by name — to shoot Shelipov

because the man was talking on a

cellphone and they feared he

would report their location after

they had fled a nearby battle in a

stolen car.

Ovsyanikov said it was impor-

tant to preserve Shishimarin’s

right to defense counsel even

though the case against him was

strong.

Shishimarin feared for his

own safety if he didn’t kill Sheli-

pov and he did not aim the shots

he fired, his lawyer said, adding

that the sergeant let off a short

are unable to defend his interests

on the ground. This ... does not

mean we will stop considering

ways to continue our efforts

through other channels.”

Shishimarin’s face appeared

blank and his eyes downcast

during the hearing. Clad in a

blue and gray sweatshirt, he

listened to his translator whisper

from behind the glass windows

of a courtroom detention box.

Prosecutors argued that

Shishimarin, a member of Rus-

sia’s 4th Guards Kantemirovska-

ya tank division, committed a

war crime when he fired rounds

from his rifle at Shelipov. Shishi-

hold soldiers accountable for
their actions against civilians.
“If they decide to do such
atrocities, to kill, to rape, to loot,
to torture, we will find everyone,”
she told The Post’s David Igna-
tius in a live conversation on
Monday after the verdict was
announced. “We will identify all
of you, we start to prosecute, and
you will be responsible for all
your atrocities.”
Since the war began, tens of
thousands of investigators,
alongside activists and officials,
have fanned out across Ukraine
to collect testimony and evidence
they hope to use in war crimes
prosecutions against Russia.
Investigators have found mass
graves and other signs of a
campaign of torturing and kill-
ing civilians in suburbs outside
Kyiv.
Shishimarin admitted to fatal-
ly shooting Shelipov, who was
unarmed and pushing his bicycle
near the village of Chupakhivka,
near the Russian border on Feb.

28. Shelipov “died on the spot
    just a few meters from his home,”
    Venediktova said earlier this
    month.
    Shishimarin’s charge was pun-
    ishable by 10 years to life in
    prison. Victor Ovsyanikov, his
    Ukrainian court-appointed law-
    yer, said he was unsurprised by
    the life sentence given “certain
    pressure from society.” Ovsyanik-
    ov told local journalists he plans
    to appeal.
    “The guilt of the accused has
    been fully confirmed,” said Judge
    Serhiy Agafonov, one of the
    three-member panel who hand-
    ed down the sentence. “Shishi-
    marin, as a Russian serviceman,
    violated the laws and customs of
    war.”
    As the Solomyansky District
    Court in Kyiv prepared to hand
    down its verdict, Kremlin
    spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
    Russia would consider its op-
    tions to protect Shishimarin’s
    interests.
    “Of course, we are concerned
    about the fate of our citizen,”
    Peskov said. “Unfortunately, we

UKRAINE FROM A

Russian soldier sentenced to life in K yiv’s initial war crimes trial

OLEG PETRASYUK/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin is escorted by police officers to a vehicle as he leaves after a court hearing in Kyiv on May 23.

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