EU proposes special court to try Russian crimes in Ukraine
The court backed by the United Nations will 'investigate and prosecute Russia's crime of aggression'
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed establishing a "specialized court" to prosecute Russia’s “crime of aggression” in Ukraine.
According to the president of the European Commission, which acts as the EU's executive arm, the court will be backed by the UN.
"While continuing to support the International Criminal Court, we are proposing to set up a specialized court backed by the United Nations to investigate and prosecute Russia's crime of aggression," von der Leyen said in a video statement.
“We are ready to start working with the international community to get the broader international support possible for this specialized court,” she added.
Kyiv has repeatedly called on its Western allies to set up an international tribunal to try Russian officials as well as regular soldiers for reported war crimes committed by the Russian army during Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Earlier on Tuesday, both Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and the country’s first lady Olena Zelenska made another plea for the tribunal to be established as more mass graves were discovered in the liberated territories of the country.
The same day, Russian top propagandists discussed their concerns about the possible loss in the Ukraine war and their potential trial in the International Criminal Court in the Hague during a political show on national TV.
“Let me tell you that if we manage to lose, the Hague, whether real or hypothetical, will even come after a street cleaner who swept the cobblestones behind the Kremlin walls,” Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russia Today channel, said.
Last week, the European parliament adopted a resolution declaring Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. The Kremlin has previously denied all allegations about the alleged crimes of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.