This is Frank Gaffney with the Secure Freedom Minute.

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continued making his rounds of Western legislatures with virtual speeches to a joint session of Congress yesterday and the German Bundestag today, he seemed to have scored at least one potentially significant victory. President Biden has joined him in declaring Russian dictator Vladimir Putin a “war criminal.”

The International Criminal Court has already opened an investigation into the ongoing, and still-intensifying, crimes against humanity Putin is inflicting on innocent civilians, refugees and others in Ukraine. At present, however, he seems unlikely to stand trial, let alone be punished.

Putin’s designation as a war criminal, however, could have an important knock-on effect, though. His ally, Communist China’s Xi Jinping, must be put on notice: Those enabling Putin’s crimes by violating international sanctions on Russian energy sales, resupplying the Kremlin’s arsenal, etc., will be deemed accomplices, and treated accordingly.

This is Frank Gaffney.