Green Party candidate Jill Stein is facing criticism after a video surfaced in which she declined to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal. The interview, released by Zeteo on Monday, featured host Mehdi Hasan questioning Stein about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in numerous civilian casualties. Hasan pointed out that Stein had not publicly condemned Putin in the same way she had criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hasan remarked, "We reviewed your social media and noticed you haven’t specifically called out Russian attacks on civilians, nor have you labeled Putin as a war criminal, though you have done so for Netanyahu." Stein responded, "Actually, we did in my initial remarks about the Ukraine war."
Stein had previously tweeted: "@netanyahu we demand that you immediately RESIGN as Prime Minister and surrender yourself to authorities. Congress may clap for war criminals, but we the people will bring you to justice."
When asked by Hasan if she considered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a war criminal, Stein replied affirmatively and indicated that her stance on Putin was that his invasion of Ukraine is criminal. Hasan pressed further, asking if Putin should be on trial. Stein answered, "By implication, yes."
Hasan then questioned why Stein had labeled Netanyahu a war criminal but not Putin. Stein replied, quoting John F. Kennedy on the need for negotiation over name-calling. Hasan challenged this by asking how Stein would negotiate with Israel given her stance on Netanyahu. Stein insisted that Netanyahu is clearly a war criminal, but she had no definitive decision from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Putin.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, alleging war crimes, while no such warrant has been issued for Netanyahu, though the ICC's chief prosecutor has sought one. Stein argued that the situation with Russia is more complex and that the U.S. has a particular responsibility regarding Netanyahu.
A video of the interview, shared on Hasan's X account, has been viewed over 600,000 times. In December 2015, Stein attended a Moscow dinner celebrating Russian state television channel RT's 10th anniversary, where she was photographed with Putin, Michael Flynn, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Stein's campaign previously stated that she attended the event at her own expense to promote peace and diplomacy and that the Senate Intelligence Committee found no wrongdoing related to the trip.
In a 2017 interview with The Intercept, Stein described the dinner as not an "intimate roundtable" and noted that Putin left shortly after his speech. She added that there was no meaningful interaction between English and Russian speakers due to the absence of a translator.
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