A tribunal to investigate Russia's aggression may be established in the spring.

2025-02-05 07:05:28https://svoboda.org/a/tribunal-po-rassledovaniyu-agressii-rossii-mogut-sozdatj-vesnoy/33303287.html

"The establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression within the framework of the Council of Europe will enable our international partners, particularly Ukraine and the European Union, to fully leverage our experience and knowledge in the field of human rights protection and the rule of law across the continent," stated Berse at a briefing in Brussels. The core group for the creation of the tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine includes 41 states, the European Commission, the European External Action Service, and the Council of Europe itself.

According to sources from "Deutsche Welle" (DW), the current meeting of the tribunal's initiators may be the penultimate one, with the next likely scheduled for spring. It is expected that a document establishing the special tribunal will be signed during this meeting.

The crime of aggression, deemed one of the most serious offenses, is punishable for the leaders of the aggressor state and its military leadership. In response to a DW question about how the establishment of an international tribunal might affect potential negotiations that U.S. President Donald Trump intends to hold with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the head of the EU's foreign policy service, Kaja Kallas, replied: "There is no doubt that Putin committed the crime of aggression, meaning he decided to attack another country, infringing upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."

In an interview with "Deutsche Welle," Kallas also stated that the tribunal's work is essential "to hold the guilty accountable and to establish a just peace in Ukraine."

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and supported armed separatists in Donbas. In 2022, Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Kyiv and the West, along with most UN countries, characterized as unprovoked aggression. Russian authorities cited the need for so-called "denazification" and "demilitarization" of Ukraine as primary objectives of the war.