Ukraine circulating photos of captured troops may violate international law: Expert
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Ukraine's spread of images of killed or detained soldiers could violate international law, indicating its immoral act on behalf of the troops.
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Circulating photos of captured troops may violate international law.
Ukraine's practice of spreading media images of killed or detained soldiers via social media platforms might be a violation of international law and undercut Kiev's goal, according to Southwestern Law School Professor Rachel VanLandingham.
"The law doesn’t allow for, ‘They’re [Russia] doing bad things, so we can, too,’" VanLandingham, a former US Air Force judge advocate and CENTCOM legal advisor, said in an article published on Thursday.
"They [Ukraine] don’t want to turn the international community against them. They’ve got to be on the straight and narrow here. It’s really dangerous for them in desperation to do things that are clearly prohibited."
See this: Millions spent on anti-Russia narrative in Ukraine
Since the crisis erupted, images and photos of dead Russian servicemen on battlefields around Ukraine have been posted on numerous social media platforms, according to the article.
Telegram, Twitter, and Youtube have been some of the key social media platforms where these photos and videos can be found.
Since Sunday, Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs has been posting extremely graphic images and inviting Russians to view them to possibly identify anyone they might know, the report said.
The report also said the tactic could be considered a violation of the Geneva Conventions, which states that governments at all times must protect prisoners of war from humiliating and degrading treatment.
Anti-Russian propaganda
Like the falsified video game footage depicting a close battle between two fighter aircraft, saying the film showed the Ukrainian air force shooting down a Russian fighter jet, much of the circulating footage online regarding Ukraine and Russia is older footage being used to bombard users with anti-Russia propaganda.
The Ukrainian Defense ministry also posted the aforementioned clip with the false caption.
TikTok videos, propagandized headlines, and tweets pinging out across screens around the world are confounding millions about how this war is actually playing out on the ground and depicting Ukraine as the victim when in reality, it is responsible for the ongoing shelling of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov revealed Saturday that Ukrainian nationalist battalions are copying the tactics of international terrorists in Syria, and yet, the public outcry against Russian troops paints them as invaders, not defenders.
"Nationalist battalions are using so-called ‘Bandera cars’ which are cross-country vehicles with large-caliber firearms or mortars mounted on them. Let me remind you that this tactic is practiced by international terrorists in Syria," Konashenkov told reporters.
