International Response to horrific Bucha massacre has been swift

Lithuanian officials, on Monday, 4 April 2022, ordered the Russian consulate in Klaipėda to close. The consulate closure isn't surprising. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence, considering breaking-news coming out of Ukraine, could have seen the closure coming.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, revealed in a tweet tweeted today that the “Russian ambassador was asked to leave Lithuania.” Landbergis, addressing gathered reporters, said the decision was entirely due to the “horrific massacre” in Bucha.

Twenty-one Bucha civilians, discovered dead by Associated Press journalists, were scattered around a site Russian soldier had been using as a base.

“In response to Russia’s military aggression against sovereign Ukraine and the atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces in various occupied Ukrainian cities, including the horrific massacre in Bucha" Landsbergis said, "the Lithuanian government has decided to downgrade the diplomatic representation."

Further to ordering the consulate closed, not long thereafter, diplomatic ties with Russia were downgraded. The Russian ambassador, based in Vilnius, has been ordered to leave the country.

International response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been decisively swift. Germany, the same day Lithuania downgrades diplomatic ties, expels Russian envoys. Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Affairs Minister, articulated the reasoning for Germany's decision.

“The images from Bucha speak to unbelievable brutality by the Russian leadership," Baerbock said, "and by those who follow its propaganda with a boundless will to exterminate.”

The decision, according to Baerbock, was essential to “stand up for our freedom and be prepared to defend it.” The Kremlin, without missing a beat, rejected Western accusations that Russian soldiers had been responsible for the massacre. Baerbock, in a short two-tweet thread, openly expressed her thoughts.

English Translation: The pictures from #Butscha testify to a will to destroy that transcends all borders. We have therefore declared a significant number of employees of the Russian embassy to be undesirable. We will initiate further reactions together with our partners. 1/2

English Translation: We will further tighten the existing #sanctions against #Russia, resolutely expand our support for the Ukrainian armed forces and also strengthen #NATO's eastern flank. 2/2

France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, late on Monday, announced it would follow Germany's example by expelling several Russian diplomats "whose activities are contrary to our security interests."

"This action is part of a European approach. Our first responsibility is always to ensure the security of the French and Europeans," the press release read.

Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, referenced in a tweet tweeted on Monday, 4 April 2022 "more mass graves outside Kyiv." Johnson, calling the discovery "sickening," isn't wrong. It is a reminder of exactly how far Russian troops are willing to go to realise President Vladimir Putin's objectives. The big takeaway, when it comes to many European leaders, no one is prepared to dance to Putin's tune.

Ireland's Taoiseach Micheál Martin, addressing reporters early Monday morning, expressed justifiable concerns and condemned the “appalling and barbaric crimes” carried out in Ukraine by occupying Russian soldiers.

“We’re now looking and we would support further sanctions, which in themselves has an impact on the economy, given the appalling and barbaric crimes committed by Russian Federation troops in Ukraine, particularly in the environs of Kyiv and Bucha and other towns, where we see innocent civilians murdered, hands tied behind their backs,” Martin said.

“We cannot be blind in the first instance, to the appalling human trauma and death that is being visited upon the people of Ukraine. Every conceivable pressure that we can now has to be put on Russia to stop this war and stop this attack on humanity.”

Western leaders, following recent events, have rightfully pushed for further sanctions against Russia. A few prominent European leaders, most notably Christine Lambrecht, are calling for a ban on Russian petroleum imports.

Lambrecht, Germany's Defence Minister, expressed her thoughts pertaining to a potential European Union ban on all Russian supplied petroleum products. Curiously, despite Lambrecht's leanings, more senior German officials have been hesitant to venture in that direction. An immediate ban, a few senior German officials believe, would not be possible.