Poots: We are witnessing genocide and our aircraft should be shooting down Russian planes

Mr Poots also dubbed the attack on Ukraine an act of “genocide”.

It is now a week since Russian troops crossed the border into the neighbouring country of Ukraine, which had been under de facto Russian control from 1922 until the end of Communist rule in 1991, when independence was declared.

In the last several years a separatist movement has been trying to detach the east of the country away from Ukraine and into alignment with Russia, which had already seized ethnically-Russian-dominated Crimean peninsula by force in 2014.

According to the 2001 Ukrainian census – the only one carried out since the fall of Communism – the three easternmost border regions had populations which were between 26% and 39% ethnically Russian (though this has likely changed somewhat since then).

Mr Poots, speaking on the BBC’s Nolan Live TV show on Wednesday night, began by saying Joe Biden had sent out a message of weakness with the botched US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

He said: “There was no signals given to Putin to back off.

“We shouldn’t be where we are now.

“Putin has no business to be in Ukraine, full stop.

“We have a very powerful fleet of aircraft in NATO, so why do we not police the skies?”

He was challenged by Stephen Nolan about whether he is calling for Russian aircraft to be brought down.

“If a Russian plane is going to indiscriminately bomb civilians in a European country, are we to sit back and watch?” he replied.

“Because that’s currently what’s happening. We’re watching as genocide takes place...

“For me, if a plane is in combat against Ukraine, our planes should be in combat with them.”

He pointed to the example of appeasement in the run-up to World War 2, describing Putin as a “bully”.

Pressed on whether it is the RAF he wants to see bombing Ukraine, Mr Poots said: “NATO planes. And NATO includes the UK. If don’t face a bully, a bully will continue to bully.”

WHAT ACTUALLY COUNTS AS GENOCIDE?:

The UK government takes its cue on the definition of genocide from a 1948 UN document titled: ‘Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide’. It reads:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

This has been in force since 1951 (but the UK only adopted it in 1970).

However another UN document – ‘When to refer to a situation as ‘genocide’’ – cautions against using the term too liberally.

It says: “It is extremely important that United Nations officials adhere to the correct usage of the term, for several reasons;

“(i) its frequent misuse in referring to large scale, grave crimes committed against particular populations;

“(ii) the emotive nature of the term and political sensitivity surrounding its use; and...

“(iii) the potential legal implications associated with a determination of genocide.”

More from this reporter:

WATCH: Ukrainian forces are now armed with ‘built in Belfast’ NLAW anti-tank bazookas

Christopher Stalford death: DUP MLA was a right-wing Christian who nonetheless couldn’t stand Donald Trump

Northern Ireland Protocol: News Letter reporter challenges anonymity for Sinn Fein member in Irish Sea border case

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