President Biden Calls Dictator And Genocide Are Related To Rising Fuel Prices, Alluding To Russia And Putin's Invasion?

President Joe Biden holds a child as he visits a Ukrainian refugee center in Poland. (Twitter/POTUS)

JAKARTA - US President Joe Biden first mentioned genocide when talking about high fuel prices, apparently referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement. Previously, President Biden had several times labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, but he had not stated that Russia had committed genocide in Ukraine.

"Your family budget, your ability to fill your tank, nothing should depend on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide on the other side of the world," Biden said at an event in Iowa on fuel prices. President Biden called expensive gasoline a "Putin price hike."

Under international law, genocide is the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

According to UN conventions, this includes through murder; serious bodily or mental harm; creating lethal conditions, and actions to prevent births, among other things.

President Biden has previously made several statements about the war that United States officials then had to stop.

The president sparked controversy on his recent trip to Poland when he made a final sentence saying President Putin should not be allowed to remain in power. The White House clarified that US policy is not to seek regime change.

Genocide, considered the most serious international offense, was first used to describe the Nazi Holocaust. It was used in 1948 as a crime under international law in UN conventions.

Since the end of the Cold War, the State Department has officially used the term seven times. This is to describe the massacres in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, and Darfur; ISIS attacks on Yazidis and other minorities; China's treatment of Uighurs and other Muslims, and this year the Myanmar army's persecution of the Rohingya minority.

At the State Department, such determinations usually follow a rigorous internal process. However, the final decision is up to the secretary of state, who weighs whether the move will advance American interests, officials said.

It is known that the determination of genocide does not automatically waive US punitive measures. But human rights defenders say it can help mobilize an international response to prevent further atrocities.