The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is stepping up calls for a special tribunal to try Russia for the crime of aggression.
Speaking ahead of a summit of European leaders in Reykjavik on Tuesday, Von der Leyen said “accountability of Russia for the crime of aggression” would be a big topic. Earlier this week, she promised to “strongly support the creation of a dedicated tribunal to bring Russia’s crime of aggression to trial”.
Leaders from across the continent are meeting in the Icelandic capital for a Council of Europe summit, only the fourth in the body’s 74-year history. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, Rishi Sunak and Von der Leyen are to give speeches later on Tuesday.
Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe last March after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Moscow had announced its intention to withdraw from the continent’s leading human rights body the day before its expulsion, after the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly called for its withdrawal.
Ukraine, backed by the European Commission and several member states, has led calls for a special tribunal to try Vladimir Putin and his top officials for the crime of aggression.
The commission last year set out two options to hold Putin to account: an international tribunal based on a multilateral treaty or a special hybrid court integrated into a national justice system with international judges.
EU officials think both options would require UN support and hope to win backing in the general assembly, recognising that Russia – a veto-wielding member of the security council – would block any such idea.
The international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Putin and other senior Russian officials over the abduction of Ukrainian children. But it does not have the power to try crimes of aggression, as Russia has not ratified the ICC treaty.
Supporters of a special tribunal argue that it needs to be set up urgently while the war rages, arguing it could have a cooling effect on atrocities committed by invading forces.
Speaking on Tuesday, Von der Leyen said leaders would also decide on setting up “a register of damage in The Hague”, which she described as “a first step towards Russian compensation”.
The bill for rebuilding Ukraine has grown to $411bn (£329bn), the World Bank said in March, based on one year’s worth of devastation wrought by the Russian invasion. Von der Leyen said the register of damages would be “an enormously important judicial element … to give justice to the victims”.
The commission has also promised to help create an international centre to gather and store evidence on the crime of aggression and said such a body would be set up in The Hague and operational from July.