Vladimir Putin last week in Moscow. Pool photo by Ivan Sekretarev
President Vladimir Putin is fast turning Russia into an outlaw
nation. As one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, his country shares a special responsibility to
uphold international law. Yet, his behavior in Ukraine and Syria violates not only
the rules intended to promote peace instead of conflict, but also common human
decency.
This bitter truth was driven home twice on Wednesday.
An investigative team led by the Netherlands concluded that the
surface-to-air missile system that shot down a Malaysia
Airlines plane over Ukraine in July 2014, killing 298 on board, was
sent from Russia to Russian-backed separatists and returned to Russia the same
night. Meanwhile, in Syria, Russian and Syrian warplanes knocked out two
hospitals in the rebel-held sector of Aleppo as part of an assault that
threatens the lives of 250,000 more people in a war that has already claimed
some 500,000 Syrian lives.
Russia has tried hard to pin the blame for the airline
crash on Ukraine. But the new report, produced by prosecutors from the
Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine, confirms earlier findings.
It uses strict standards of evidence and meticulously documents not only the
deployment of the Russian missile system that caused the disaster but also
Moscow’s continuing cover-up.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Pavlo
Klimkin, told The Times last week that his government is determined to bring
both Russia and the individuals who fired the missile to justice.
Some Western officials have accused Russia of war
crimes, charges that could be pursued through international channels, even if
Moscow blocks a formal referral to the International Criminal Court. New
sanctions against Russia also should be considered. Mr. Putin will undoubtedly
fight any such action, using his veto on the Security Council, but whatever his
response, the United States should lend its support to Ukraine’s quest for
accountability.
There seems no holding Mr. Putin to account in Syria.
For months he has pretended to negotiate on a political solution to a
five-year-old civil war between his client, President Bashar al-Assad, and
rebels backed by the United States and some Arab nations. But despite pleas
from Secretary of State John Kerry, who has spent an enormous amount of time and effort
negotiating two separate (and short-lived) cease-fires, Russian and Syrian
forces, backed by Iranian ground troops, have continued the slaughter.
Over recent days, Mr.
Putin has again shown his true colors with air attacks that have included
powerful bunker-busting bombs that can destroy underground hospitals and safety
zones where civilians seek shelter. On Sept. 19, Russia bombed an aid convoy,
which like hospitals and civilians are not supposed to be targeted under
international law.
On Wednesday, Mr. Kerry threatened to withdraw an American team
from Geneva where the two sides had established a center to collaborate on a
cease-fire. But that is likely to have little effect, and Mr. Kerry has few, if
any, diplomatic cards to play.
President Obama has long refused to approve direct
military intervention in Syria. And Mr. Putin may be assuming that Mr. Obama is
unlikely to confront Russia in his final months and with an American election
season in full swing. But with the rebel stronghold in Aleppo under threat of
falling to the government, administration officials said that such a response
is again under consideration.
Mr. Putin fancies himself a man on a mission to
restore Russia to greatness. Russia could indeed be a great force for good. Yet
his unconscionable behavior — butchering civilians in Syria and Ukraine,
annexing Crimea, computer-hacking American government agencies, crushing
dissent at home — suggests that the furthest thing from his mind is becoming a
constructive partner in the search for peace.
Original
Prosecutors investigating Malaysia Airlines Flight 17’s crash in Ukraine found evidence that was not previously made public. The Times Moscow correspondent Andrew E. Kramer talks about the inquiry and what it means.
By NATALIA V. OSIPOVA and ANDREW E. KRAMER on September 28, 2016. Photo by Mauricio Lima for The New York Times. Watch in Times Video »
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