Joe Biden: Russia war a 'genocide,' trying to 'wipe out' Ukraine
Des Moines (US)(AP): President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia's war in Ukraine "amounted to genocide," accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian."
"Yes, I called it genocide," he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington."It's become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian."
At an earlier event in Menlo, Iowa, addressing spiking energy prices resulting from the war, Biden had implied that he thought Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine, but offered no details. Neither he nor his administration announced new consequences for Russia or assistance to Ukraine following Biden's public assessment.
Biden's comments drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia's invasion of his country.
True words of a true leader @POTUS," he tweeted. "Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.
Biden said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia's conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but said "it sure seems that way to me.
"More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we're only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies," he said.
Just last week Biden had he did not believe Russia's actions amounted to genocide, just that they constituted "war crimes."
During a trip to Europe last month, Biden faced controversy for a nine-word statement seemingly supporting regime change in Moscow, which would have represented a dramatic shift toward direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed country. For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden said.
He clarified the comments days later, saying: I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man. I wasn't articulating a policy change.
Past American leaders often have dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia's in Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation under an international genocide convention that requires signing countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified.
That obligation was seen as blocking President Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus' killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994 as genocide, for example.
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TCS orders probe, engages external experts in Nashik Case
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services on Friday said it has initiated a formal internal investigation into allegations linked to its Nashik unit and engaged independent external experts to ensure transparency in the process.
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director K Krithivasan was quoted by The Observer Post as saying that the company has appointed Deloitte and Trilegal as independent counsel to support the probe. The internal investigation is being led by Aarthi Subramanian.
The company has constituted a supervisory committee chaired by independent director Keki Mistry, which will oversee the process. The committee will also review findings and monitor the implementation of recommendations.
Krithivasan said a preliminary review of the company’s internal systems and records had not revealed any complaints of the nature being alleged through its ethics or POSH channels.
He also clarified that an employee named in media reports, Nida Khan, was not part of the human resources function and did not hold any leadership role. He informed that she worked as a process associate.
The company has also rejected reports suggesting that operations at the Nashik facility had been suspended. It asserted that the unit continues to function without disruption with a zero-tolerance policy towards misconduct.
