Pentagon blocks U.S. involvement in Russian war crime investigation: diplomat

The Department of Defense is halting the U.S. government from sharing evidence that could aid the International Criminal Court with its investigation into potential Russian war crimes.

The news was shared Wednesday by Beth Van Schaack, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, during a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Van Schaack said the Pentagon continues to block the U.S. from working with the Hague court as it looks into numerous accounts of suspected violations in Ukraine, NBC News reported.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) asked Van Schaack if the Pentagon was the reason the U.S. “is not cooperating in that way,” and she answered, simply, “Yes.”

Concerns from the Pentagon center around the possibility that involvement could lead to the prosecution of U.S. troops who are currently deployed.

In 2017, the ICC launched an investigation into U.S. crimes in Afghanistan, to which the Trump administration responded by swiftly imposing sanctions on the court’s prosecutor.

The panel later announced that it would give lower priority to the case against U.S military practices in Afghanistan.

Van Schaack stated Wednesday that she did not consider the prosecution of U.S. troops a serious risk.

“I’ll say at the outset that in my role as the lead diplomat in the international justice space, I would work tirelessly to ensure that no U.S. personnel will be brought before the ICC,” she said.

“I do not think that that is an acute risk at this time,” Van Schaack added.

She also said the ICC has informed the U.S. that if the possible war crimes in Afghanistan were addressed within the U.S. legal system, then the Hague court would not feel required to intervene.