Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 7 – Sergey Stepashin, former Russian prime minister and current head of the Association of Jurists of Russia, says that Russian law enforcement structures are already preparing a tribunal at which Ukrainians will face charges of war crimes, a structure that recalls the Nuremberg trials after World War II where German war criminals were tried.
The Russian politician says that while preparation for such a forum is now actively taking place in Moscow, no decision has been made yet on where these trials will occur. “First, let us finish the special operation; and then we will think about that,” he tells TASS (tass.ru/obschestvo/25837147).
Various officials and human rights activists in the West have talked about convening a forum to try Russians for war crimes but these suggestions have not gone beyond that. But what Stepashin is signaling is that the Kremlin will continue to model its behavior on what happened during and after World War II.
Having declared that the Russian war in Ukraine is the continuation of the fight against Nazism, Putin and his regime have little choice but to try to convene a Nuremberg-style trial of Ukrainians if Moscow is in a position to do so. Given Moscow’s shortage of allies, however, it is difficult to know what countries might send jurists to take part, however.
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