“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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Like Slobodan Milošević, Vladimir Putin is a War Criminal

Slobodan Milošević was the former President of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997. He led the Socialist Party of Serbia during and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

When the Soviet Union ceased to exist, Milošević tried to reform the 1974 Constitution of Yugoslavia. He believed that it marginalized Serbia by giving too much power to Serbia’s autonomous provinces, thus making them virtually independent from Serbia.

In 1999, Milošević was charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) with war crimes during the Bosnian War, the Croatian War of Independence, and the Kosovo War. He was initially indicted on these charges:

Genocide,
complicity in genocide,
deportation,
murder,
persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds,
inhumane acts,
forcible transfer of 800,000 people,
extermination,
imprisonment,
torture,
willful killing,
unlawful confinement,
willfully causing great suffering,
unlawful deportation or transfer,
extensive destruction of and appropriation of property that was not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly,
cruel treatment,
plunder of public or private property,
unlawful attacks on civilians, and
destruction or willful damage done to historic monuments and institutions dedicated to education or religion.

Later, Milošević’s trial was transferred to the U.N. war crimes tribunal, and genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia were added to his indictment. Milošević’s trial before the U.N. tribunal was never completed, because he died of a heart attack in prison on March 11, 2006.

Vladimir Putin has committed similar war crimes in Ukraine. Yesterday, the International Criminal Court said it would “immediately proceed with an active investigation of possible war crimes” against Putin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. embassy officials in Kiev said that attacking a nuclear power plant in Ukraine was a war crime:

“It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant….Putin’s shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further.”

Putin has committed other war crimes, too. For example, he is

committing crimes of aggression,
targeting civilian populations,
violating the Geneva Conventions, and
using cluster bombs and vacuum bombs.

The list of war crimes committed by Putin in Ukraine won’t be complete until he withdraws his troops and an investigation can be conducted. Yesterday, Putin bombed a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol. That’s an obvious war crime, because it was not a military target.

The world can’t allow country leaders to initiate unprovoked attacks on other countries. Putin used as his justification for invading Ukraine the fact that Ukraine was considering joining N.A.T.O. He said he believes that if Ukraine joins N.A.T.O., it will threaten Russia’s security, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine proves that Ukraine’s desire to be a member of N.A.T.O. is justified.

As I said, like Slobodan Milošević, Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. He needs to be held accountable.

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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18