Vice President Kamala Harris made news by announcing a formal U.S. finding that Russia committed “crimes against humanity” in the war on Ukraine being waged at Vladimir Putin’s direction.

The vice president delivered a speech Saturday in Munich, Germany during the Munich Security Conference, where she ripped Putin and revealed that “we have examined the evidence” and “The United States has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity”:

First, from the starting days of this unprovoked war, we have witnessed Russian forces engage in horrendous atrocities and war crimes. Their actions are an assault on our common values, an attack on our common humanity.

And let us be clear: Russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population — gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape, and deportation. Execution-style killings, beatings, and electrocution.

Russian authorities have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of people from Ukraine to Russia, including children. They have cruelly separated children from their families.

And we’ve all seen the images of the theater in Mariupol, where hundreds of people were killed.

Think of the image of the pregnant mother who was killed following a strike at a maternity hospital, where she was preparing to give birth.

Think of the images of Bucha. Civilians shot in cold blood. Their bodies left in the street. The jarring photograph of the man who was riding his bike.

Think of the four-year-old girl who the United Nations recently reported was sexually assaulted by a Russian soldier. A four-year-old child.

Barbaric and inhumane.

Long before I was Vice President of the United States, I spent the majority of my career as a prosecutor, beginning as a young lawyer in the courtroom and later running the California Department of Justice. I know firsthand the importance of gathering facts and holding them up against the law.

In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, we have examined the evidence. We know the legal standards. And there is no doubt these are crimes against humanity. (Applause.)

The United States has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.

And I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes and to their superiors who are complicit in these crimes: You will be held to account.

In the face of these indisputable facts, to all of us here in Munich: Let us renew our commitment to accountability. Let us renew our commitment to the rule of law.

As for the United States, we will continue to support the judicial process in Ukraine and international investigations, because justice must be served.

Let us all agree, on behalf of all the victims, both known and unknown, justice must be served. Such is our moral interest.

We also have a significant strategic interest. The fight in Ukraine has far-reaching global ramifications.

No nation is safe in a world where one country can violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another — (applause) — where crimes against humanity are committed with impunity; where a country with imperialist ambitions can go unchecked.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

The post WATCH: VP Kamala Harris Blasts Russia ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ In Munich Speech — Promises ‘You Will Be Held To Account’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/Vf7BFwL