Fact-Check | Putin's 'Genocide' and 'War Crimes' in Ukraine and Call for Protection of Civilians in the Israel-Hamas War

The Poligraph website, a fact-checking project of Voice of America, examines Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for the protection of civilians in the Israel-Hamas war and compares this request with Putin's actions in Ukraine, labeled as 'genocide' and 'war crimes'. According to the site, on October 25, Vladimir Putin expressed his desire for an immediate end to hostilities in Gaza and protection for civilians, lamenting that 'hundreds of thousands are left without shelter, food, water, electricity, and medical assistance.' These statements come as he faces accusations of war crimes and genocide against the Ukrainian people, with the International Criminal Court having issued an arrest warrant for him months ago. Following the Hamas militants' attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,400 people and the hostage-taking of over 200, Putin immediately spoke with Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt, Ibrahim Raisi of Iran, and other world leaders. However, his phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took place nine days later, on October 24. The Russian leader expressed condolences to the families of the victims of this attack and told Netanyahu that all hostilities must cease immediately. Putin stated that Israeli operations could lead to civilian casualties, but Russia is seeking a plan to prevent a 'humanitarian disaster in Gaza.' According to data provided by the Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, approximately 7,000 civilians have died in Gaza so far, a figure that Israel claims is exaggerated and does not accept. On the other hand, investigations show that Vladimir Putin, who has held power in Russia for 20 years, has initiated or participated in wars and conflicts that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Chechnya, Syria, and Ukraine. In September 1999, Vladimir Putin entered Chechnya by canceling a peace agreement and began a second war with the country under the title of 'anti-terrorism operation.' Amnesty International estimated the civilian casualties in the second Chechen war in 2007 at 25,000, stating that over 5,000 people went missing in this conflict. In 2015, Russia intervened to ensure the survival of Bashar al-Assad's regime in the Syrian civil war. According to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, heavy bombardment in Syria in 2016 by Russia during the Aleppo battle constituted a war crime. Over 440 civilians were killed in the month-long assault by the Russia-Syria coalition, more than 90 of whom were children. According to a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria in 2017, war crimes were committed 'by all parties' in the Aleppo battle. The UN report states that 'between July and December, Syrian and Russian forces conducted daily airstrikes that left hundreds dead and turned hospitals, schools, and markets into ruins.' The Syrian Human Rights Network (an independent monitoring body collecting data on civilian casualties) reported in its June 2022 report that Russia and the Assad regime were responsible for the massacre of many of the 229,000 civilian deaths in Syria. Under Putin's leadership, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. According to international human rights organizations and Western news reports, the attack on Ukraine involved shelling and indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets such as residential buildings, hospitals, schools, and kindergartens, resulting in many civilian deaths. According to Human Rights Watch, in the first 11 days of the war, over 450 civilians were killed or injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine, due to Russian airstrikes and shelling of populated areas. Ukrainian and foreign investigators and prosecutors have documented multiple cases of civilian executions by Russian forces in the city of Bucha, near Kyiv, from March 5 to April 1, 2022. The bodies of over 30 civilians were found in the streets, and 67 other civilian bodies were exhumed from a mass grave. Yuri Belousov, head of the war crimes department at the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office, stated in February 2023 that the number of civilians killed since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine exceeds 100,000, and 'their bodies must be found and identified after the liberation of the occupied territories.' In December 2022, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that 9,700 civilian deaths had been recorded in Ukraine over the past seven months. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees also believes that 'the actual figures are significantly higher, as information from some areas where intense fighting has occurred has been delayed, and many reports are still awaiting confirmation.'