Pierre-Richard Prosper was U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues from 2001 to 2005 and a prosecutor at the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is right to wonder whether Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. And when he put that question to Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson this week, Tillerson was right to reserve judgment on the issue. Russian involvement in the targeting of civilians must be investigated, and if Putin ordered or even approved the commission of war crimes, he should be held accountable. Putin may not deserve it, but that’s both the American way and required by international law.

Source: Washington Post January 14, 2017 22:01 UTC