German President calls for war crimes tribunal against Russia's Putin, Sergey Lavrov

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for conducting a war crimes tribunal against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Nexta TV reported, citing Der Spiegel. According to the German President, Putin and Sergey Lavrov must be tried by the International Criminal Court for their military offensive against Ukraine. The statement of the German President comes as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues for the second month. 

Steinmeier stated that each person responsible for committing crimes needs to "justify" themselves, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the Der Spiegel news magazine. The German President stressed that these people include Russian soldiers, military commanders and the people who hold the responsibility politically.

Steinmeier called images that have emerged in Ukraine's Bucha city "terrible" and insisted that he "can hardly bear them," as per the Anadolu Agency news report. He stated the images that surfaced from Bucha demonstrate the meaning of Moscow's "criminal attack" against Kyiv. He accepted that he was shocked by the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to announce a war against Ukraine. Previously, Frank-Walter Steinmeier had expressed regret over his stance on Russia and called his support for Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline a mistake. 

Scholz demands access for international organisations to record atrocities 

Earlier on April 3, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that "terrifying and horrifying" images have surfaced from Ukraine and termed the killing of civilians a "war crime," according to the statement released on the website of the German government.

Scholz also called for investigating the crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine and added that people responsible for the crimes need to be held accountable. He further stated that dozens of people in Bucha have been shot and women, children as well as elderly are said to have been among the victims. He called on Russian President Putin to agree to a ceasefire and bring an end to war. He demanded that international organisations be given access to these regions to record the atrocities.

Zelenskyy responds to Russian FM Lavrov's 'fake' remark on Bucha

While speaking exclusively to Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on April 7, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the situation in Bucha "very tragic."

When asked about the Bucha killings and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's claim that the reports over the genocide are "fake" and "staged", the Ukrainian President said, "I can tell you and your people that I am not ready to have any answer to Minister Lavrov who is saying that the situation in Bucha was 'fake'. Look at the rhetorics of the person who is considered as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, which is a great and an important status. Throwing up 'fakes'. It's not the steps of his level. The politics of the Russian Federation is to consider that we don't have any dependence and we don't have any sovereignty. They think that Ukraine is fake." 

(Image: AP)