The West is likely to forgive any crimes committed by the Kiev regime as part of actions against Russia, argued Boris Rozhin, a military expert with independent Russian military affairs think tank the Center for Military-Political Journalism.
In one example, Rozhin pointed to Kiev's illegal use of anti-personnel mines.
The 1999 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, commonly known as the Ottawa Treaty or simply the Mine Ban Treaty, was ratified by Ukraine at the time.
This convention essentially prohibits the countries that signed it from using anti-personnel land mines.
Since the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict in 2022 and despite this treaty, the regime in Kiev has employed anti-personnel mines in its combat operations, including the use of these munitions against population centers in the Donetsk People’s Republic. These actions have not roused a blink from Western politicians.
“So whatever crimes it (Ukraine) might commit, all of them would be approved,” Rozhin said, adding that the especially outrageous crimes that the West would be unable to openly approve of, would likely be “curbed on the media level.”
“There is no reason to believe that the West would somehow condemn or protest against such use (of landmines) by Ukraine,” he continued. “On the contrary, the West supplies (Kiev) even with the kind of anti-personnel mines that are being used against civilians, and it is approved by the Western leadership.”
Referring to the fact that Washington turns a blind eye to its allies’ use of weapons banned by international treaties – such as, for example, the use of anti-personnel mines by Ukraine or the use of white phosphorous munitions by Israel – Rozhin explained that “essentially, none of the international treaties work today.”
According to him, Western powers simply opt to abide by the treaties they deem advantageous at the moment, while treaties disadvantageous to their interests are instead used to accuse Russia of one misdeed or another.
The conventions in question are not subjected to independent monitoring while international organizations are instead used by the West for propaganda.
“That said, when it comes to the use of some banned munitions, like cluster munitions, accusing Ukraine of it is laughable,” Rozhin said. “Because the West, the United States in particular, supplied Ukraine with a vast quantity of cluster munitions that are being used by Kiev both in combat and against civilians, so there is no reason to expect any reaction.”