Ukraine: Russia

(asked on 30th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 of March 2022 to Question 145909 on Chechnya and Russia: Sanctions, whether she has made an additional assessment of the potential merits of sanctioning, alongside absentia prosecutions, people involved in (a) sexual violence as a weapon of war and (b) wider war crimes committed during the siege of Mariupol.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 19th April 2022

We are working with international partners to strengthen the response to conflict-related sexual violence. We have worked with partners to refer the situation in Ukraine to the International Criminal Court, to establish a Commission of Inquiry through the UN Human Rights Council and, with the support of Ukraine, the OSCE Mission of Experts.

We condemn the Russian atrocities in Mariupol, including attacks on schools sheltering civilians and the abduction and deportation of Ukrainians. Russia's use of indiscriminate force against civilians in its illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine amounts to war crimes, and the Putin regime must be held accountable for the devastation and destruction it has inflicted on the people of Ukraine.

We continue to hold the Russian Government to account. We have announced an unprecedented package of sanctions targeting over 1400 individuals and businesses since Putin's invasion. We will continue to apply this pressure against Russia, in coordination with allies, through further waves of sanctions.

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