A month ago I already wrote a short post "russia is a terrorist state and world must admit this", but the events that followed a month later forced me to write a continuation of this article.
As I mentioned in the previous article, terrorism is one more of those terms that everyone seems ready to use, but no one can agree on an exact definition. Let's add one more definition to the previous ones. The UN General Assembly use the following in its pronouncements on terrorism: "Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them."
It is obvious from the events that have taken place over the last half year of the war that russia calculated to provoke a state of terror among Ukrainians for political purposes.
The democratic world is gradually admitting that russia is a terrorist state. In addition to Ukraine and Lithuania, Latvia on August 11, 2022, officially declared russia a "state sponsor of terrorism" amid the war in Ukraine. Latvia's parliament declared its neighbor's actions amount to "genocide against the Ukrainian people". The US also takes steps to recognize russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Representatives in House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill in late July to designate russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Nancy Pelosi backed the move, calling the designation “long overdue.” The bill has bipartisan support in the House. It is going to receive Senate backing. And it would then be up to US President Joe Biden to sign the bill.
Over the past month, the russian military did not betray its tradition and carried out numerous shelling of residential areas of peaceful cities. But there were also events that once again confirm the status of a terrorist state.
On July 29, on the outskirts of Olenivka village in eastern Ukraine, an explosion tore through a separatist prison housing thousands of Ukrainian detainees. The blast killed at least 50 people, according to russian officials, including fighters who surrendered to russia in May at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. Deputy Information Minister Daniil Bezsonov of the self-declared DPR stated that an attack had occurred overnight at the prison, which he blamed on Ukrainian HIMARS. But experts — including arson investigators, engineers, and weapons analysts agreed that the available evidence of the aftermath did not bear the hallmarks of a HIMARS attack. When sufficient evidence will be collected, it will be possible to classify it both as a terrorist act and as a war crime, since a lot of Ukrainian defenders burned alive there.
Also, russia started to get the status of a nuclear terrorist state. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that it's “a crime, nuclear terrorism” after russian forces attacked a nuclear power plant near Zaporizhzhia. Later, on July 22, the russian military moved trucks and equipment inside the hall at reactor Unit 1 and Staff access has also been blocked to the emergency crisis center under the plant.
Confirming the above-mentioned quote, it can be clearly stated that part of russia's actions are directed specifically against civilians for the purpose of intimidation and achieving political goals and must be interpreted as acts of terrorism.
I'll say it again, all states that respect the rules-based international order must follow Lithuania, and Latvia and accept the reality that russia, ISIS, and Al-Qaeda are all the same.
Author: Marko Holovach, associate