For Putin, a tribunal will be established based on the Council of Europe, - media

For Putin, a tribunal will be established based on the Council of Europe, - media

During a meeting of the Core Group in Brussels, it was agreed to launch a special tribunal to punish the crime of aggression against Ukraine, with the aim of holding Russian leader Vladimir Putin accountable, based on a bilateral agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe. The official announcement will be made at the final 14th meeting of the Core Group in Kyiv in April 2025.

This information is reported by  "European Pravda" citing a European official who participated in the group’s meeting held on February 3-4 in Brussels.

This was the 13th meeting of the Core Group, where the draft statute of the tribunal was approved.

The special tribunal to punish the crime of aggression against Ukraine will be established under the Council of Europe’s framework, with a relevant bilateral agreement to be signed with Ukraine in 2025. The final decision on this matter will be made at the last, 14th meeting of the Core Group to establish the special tribunal.

"During this week’s Core Group meeting, experts approved the draft statute of the special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. This is essentially a tribunal against Putin. The tribunal will be established based on an agreement that Ukraine will sign with the Council of Europe. The tribunal will be based on an enlarged partial agreement, to which other states can join," explained the source.

The official clarified that a similar principle was used to establish the Register of Damages from the war with Russia, one of the joint projects of the Council of Europe and Ukraine, which will become part of the overall mechanism for compensating Ukraine’s war losses, to which 43 countries worldwide and the European Union have already joined.

The Council of Europe will play a key role in establishing the tribunal, which is why the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, personally traveled to the February 3-4 meeting in Brussels, where he negotiated with EU Commissioner Michael McGrath, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, and Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Iryna Mudra.

"To establish the tribunal, a decision from the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is required—but obtaining it will not be difficult, as it only requires a two-thirds majority vote. After this, other states will be able to join the enlarged partial agreement," stated the European official.

As another senior EU official reported on the condition of anonymity, the last, 14th meeting of the Core Group to establish the special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine will take place in April 2025 in Kyiv, during which the tribunal’s statute will be finally approved, and concrete plans for its establishment will be announced.

Discussions regarding the special tribunal for Russia for the crime of aggression have been ongoing since 2022, but for a long time, there was no practical progress on this issue.

Previously, the coalition of states to establish the special tribunal agreed on key parameters of its operation, including jurisdiction, and developed a roadmap with "specific next steps."