House lawmakers want the U.S. intelligence community to track and, if possible, declassify information about possible war crimes in Ukraine by Russia.
In a letter posted by Politico, all the members of the House Intelligence Committee made their request to National Intelligence Director Avril Haines.
Politico noted the letter comes as concerns about Russia's attacks on civilians in Ukraine grow and amid fears Moscow could order a chemical attack.
"The IC [intelligence community] should work diligently to declassify information related to Russia's planned or actual war crimes or other atrocities," the lawmakers said in the letter. "Doing so might deter Russia from continuing down this path or further demonstrate to the world Russia's callous disregard for the lives of civilians, and the indiscriminate assault that has killed thousands of Ukrainians, and displaced millions more.
"Taken as a whole, the IC possess unparalleled resources and insights into the ground truth in Ukraine, which would be critically important in any potential war crimes proceeding. If not already underway, we encourage the IC to implement new processes and coordination mechanism necessary to document and catalogue Russian actions in Ukraine that could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. Though the possibility of accountability appears distant today, we have a responsibility to bear witness.
"The present moment tests our collective resolve to defend human rights and freedom."
The letter was signed by committee chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and ranking member Michael Turner, R-Ohio.
Reuters reported Monday that the Pentagon is accusing Russian forces of committing war crimes.
"We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes, and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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