How does one eliminate a nation? Start by wielding foreign influence over the nation’s representatives, using economic and political pressure to coerce politicians and enforce assimilation policies. When citizens rise up in protest, escalate to other means: the annexation of territory and fomentation of separatist movements. And when all else fails, launch a full-scale invasion, devastating and displacing the lives of millions.
Such is the playbook of Russia’s imperial efforts in Ukraine, characterized by decades, if not centuries, of downplaying and denying Ukrainians’ distinct national identity. Indeed, long before the full-scale invasion, Russian politicians at the highest levels peddled propaganda claiming, among other lies, that Ukraine is not an independent State, that Ukrainian is merely a dialect of Russian, and that Ukrainians are Малороссы — “Little Russians.”
Since Feb. 24, 2022, Russia’s strategy of eroding Ukrainian identity has taken a decidedly more violent turn. Today, according to Russian leaders, Ukrainians who do not want to be “little Russians” are labeled “Nazi filth,” and an “abomination” that must be “wip[ed] off the face of the earth.” This framing is more than mere rhetoric—Russian forces have used this language to justify point-blank executions of civilians in Bucha, the crippling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure (in hopes of making Ukrainians “rot and freeze”), repeated missile strikes on densely populated urban areas, and the hunting of civilians with kamikaze drones. This language has also fueled the systematic targeting and destruction of Ukrainian educational facilities and cultural heritage sites—perhaps the most pernicious and subversive way to physically dismantle core aspects of a nation’s collective identity.
International law has a name for these actions: persecution. Russian officials must be held accountable for this crime against humanity.
What is persecution?
As codified in Article 7(2)(g) of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Rome Statute, persecution is the crime of “intentional[ly] and severe[ly]” depriving an “identifiable group or collectivity on political, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender … or other grounds” of their “fundamental rights … by reason of identity of the group or collectivity.” In other words, persecution violates a group’s core human rights because they are members of that group. But the history of this crime long predates the ICC’s 23-year existence.
In fact, persecution, alongside other heinous international crimes, has its roots in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust. In response to this horrific chapter of human history, international law sought to identify and criminalize not just the harms inflicted, but the underlying discriminatory intent behind those violations. Much like the crime of genocide, persecution emerged to sanction the discriminatory targeting of members of protected groups through acts which deprive them of their core rights. As Michelle Jarvis writes, such persecutory acts emerge from “mindsets that inflame violent behavior and brand people with certain identities as opponents, ‘others,’ to be targeted.”
How has Russia deprived Ukrainians of their fundamental rights?
As explained in a memorandum recently submitted by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School (IHRC)—which I direct—and the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, not every human right is implicated by the crime of persecution. International law mandates that persecution be limited to rights so “fundamental” that their systematic and widespread violation, when coupled with the requisite intent, must be criminalized.
Establishing that Russian aerial attacks “intentionally and severely deprived” Ukrainian civilians of their “fundamental rights” first requires identifying how certain rights are designated as “fundamental” under international law. Given the Rome Statute’s silence as to which rights are fundamental, we look to case law.
The ICC has previously held that it may consider both international humanitarian and human rights instruments to inform understandings of what constitutes a “fundamental right”—the “gross and blatant denial” of which, under certain circumstances, may amount to persecution. Conventions like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), provide essential guidance. Finally, to amount to a “gross and blatant denial” of a fundamental right, the underlying act must meet a certain “level of severity,” which requires a “case-by-case” analysis of the “context” and “cumulative effect” of acts “taken alone or in conjunction with” others.
By examining the widespread and systematic nature of Russia’s aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities—on civilian homes and those sheltering inside, and on specially protected objects like schools, cultural sites, and hospitals—the memorandum argues that Russia has violated Ukrainians’ most fundamental rights: the rights to life, education, cultural life, and health care, all of which are protected by core human rights treaties. As there has been ample discussion concerning Russia’s attacks on civilians and healthcare facilities violating Ukrainians’ rights to life and health, we focus on the “gross and blatant denial” of two remaining rights—the rights to education and cultural life.
Did Russian officials commit these acts with a discriminatory intent?
“A disease of public consciousness”: Attacking Ukrainians “as such”
As noted, persecution requires proof of a special, discriminatory intent: a deliberate targeting of a group based on its collective identity. Ukrainians as a national and perceived political group easily satisfy this requirement.
Under international law, a nation consists of a body of people “united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular state or territory.” It does not require ethnic or religious homogeneity. Ukrainian nationality is certainly united by “traditions, culture, language, ethnicity, [and] race.” Modern Ukraine is also ethnically, religiously, and linguistically diverse, but unified by a shared commitment to and belief in the country’s independence and sovereignty.
Russian officials have made it no secret that they initiated this war precisely to target the Ukrainian nation, both physically and ideologically. Their rhetoric—cloaked in pretextual and propagandistic language like “denazification” and “demilitarization”—lays the groundwork for proving discriminatory intent. When Russian officials speak of “denazification,” they mean a campaign to break the very fabric of Ukraine, achieved only by eliminating any manifestation of its collective identity and way of life. For example, they claim that there is “no historical basis” for the “idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians” and equate the perceived political identity of Ukrainian independence to “a type of Nazism” that “poisons” Ukrainian society. These remarks are evidence of the special discriminatory intent that fuels Russia’s deprivation of many of Ukrainians’ fundamental rights.
Russia’s Assault on Ukrainian Schools and Its Impact on Future Generations
Russia’s frequent aerial attacks on educational facilities exemplify its campaign against Ukrainian nationality. Between September 2022 and October 2023 alone, Russian forces damaged 3,428 educational facilities and completely obliterated 365 others. These relentless attacks, coupled with aggressive “Russification” of schools within occupied territories, represent the practical implementation of Russian leadership’s rhetoric that “Ukrainians are part of the one Russian people.” By forcibly imposing the Russian educational curriculum on Ukrainian schools—one that prioritizes teaching Russian ideology, history, and language—Russian officials effectively strip Ukrainian children of exposure to “their own cultural identity, language, and values.”
This effort is not merely an attack on education; it is an attack on future generations’ understanding of what it means to be Ukrainian. Russia’s systematic targeting of educational institutions reveals an intent to erode Ukraine’s national consciousness, starting with the youngest members of society.
Cultural Erasure: The Systematic Destruction of Ukraine’s Cultural Property
Beyond schools, Russia has persistently attacked Ukraine’s cultural property—including museums, archives, and libraries—in an effort to dismantle significant foundations of Ukrainian identity. Cultural property is afforded special protection under international humanitarian law due to its particular significance to the civilian population. Such property maintains the “inextricabl[e]” link between cultural heritage and civilian populations, which “keeps people united and anchored and gives them identity.”
Yet, despite these protections—or perhaps, precisely because of them—Russia has damaged over 457 cultural sites in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The memorandum prepared by the IHRC and IPHR analyzes two such attacks, which destroyed a historic concert hall in Vinnytsia and a historic landmark in Mykolaiv.
In addition to airstrikes, Russian forces have looted Ukraine’s cultural institutions, stealing countless, irreplaceable pieces—actions described by international art experts as “the single biggest collective art heist since the Nazis pillaged Europe in World War II.”
These acts go beyond mere wartime opportunism; they represent a deliberate effort to erase Ukraine’s history, identity, and statehood.
Beyond Aerial Attacks: Eradicating Ukrainian Identity on the Ground
Russia’s efforts to erase Ukrainian identity extend far beyond its aerial bombardment, “Russification” of schools, and intentional looting of cultural sites. Its campaign also includes a series of coercive policies designed to forcibly suppress Ukrainian nationality through administrative control and population displacement.
Notably, on Apr. 27, 2023, President Vladimir Putin launched a policy of “passportization,” a coercive initiative aimed at forcibly replacing Ukrainian national identity with Russian citizenship. The policy mandated that, by Jul. 1, 2024, Ukrainians in occupied territories—including Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk—obtain Russian passports or face dire consequences. Non-compliant residents risked detainment or deportation by Russian authorities and were classified as “foreigners” or “stateless.” Ukrainians without Russian passports were denied essential rights such as the ability to own property and access health care, further compelling compliance. This policy not only constitutes a direct attack on Ukrainian nationality but has massively contributed to the forced displacement of Ukrainian civilians, another key feature of Russia’s calculated efforts to erase Ukraine as a nation. Internally displaced civilians’ prolonged separation from their communities gradually erodes the social and cultural bonds at the core of Ukraine’s shared national identity.
Amongst the most egregious efforts is the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-occupied territories. Separated from their families and communities, these children are subjected “to pro-Russian information campaigns often amounting to targeted reeducation” and forced assimilation efforts, often being placed in “reeducation” camps. Some children, including those who have living relatives in Ukraine, have even been adopted by Russian families. Alongside widespread displacement resulting from Russia’s passportization policy and ongoing aerial attacks that have rendered parts of Ukraine unlivable, the forced transfer of children stands as one of gravest aspects of Russia’s campaign to destroy Ukrainian national identity at its most vulnerable and formative stage.
Safeguarding Ukrainians’ “Greatest Treasure”: Freedom and Dignity
Taken together, Russia’s destruction of Ukraine’s educational and cultural institutions, its administrative measures suppressing Ukrainian nationality, and its leadership’s dehumanizing rhetoric about the Ukrainian people, make plain that this is not merely a war over territory but a war against Ukrainian national identity.
Our memorandum demonstrates that Russia has deprived Ukrainian civilians of their fundamental rights—including the rights to life, health, education, and cultural life—through a pattern of discriminatory attacks designed to destroy the national essence of Ukrainians and impose a singular Russian identity. As such, the memorandum establishes that Russia’s conduct rises to the level of the crime against humanity of persecution.
Russia’s unlawful and relentless attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure have already inflicted profound and lasting harm on Ukraine’s civilian population and national identity. Designating these acts as persecution is critical for accountability and for preserving an accurate historical record of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
As this conflict enters its fourth year, the international community must act to safeguard Ukraine’s distinct national identity. With Russian officials’ discriminatory intent and consistent pattern of human rights violations now clearly established, it is time to confront the possibility that Russia’s actions meet the legal threshold for genocide.
