30 countries have joined Ukraine to create russian war crime tribunal

Greece has joined the coalition of countries to create a Special Tribunal for the russian federation for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, stated that the group includes 30 countries on the air of the national telethon on Monday evening, Interfax Ukraine reports.

He added that the group's task is to work out legal ways to create a tribunal and resolve its legal issues, especially regarding the immunities of russian president putin and his closest entourage.

"I am happy to announce that there are already 30 countries. Greece joined this group today. At the weekend, there were 29 countries," Kuleba said. "I said then that I do not doubt that by the next meeting of this group, there will be even more participants, and we can already see that this started happening."

Kuleba added that the group's task is simple: "when you enter there, you agree that a separate, special tribunal should be created to prosecute the russian federation for the crime of aggression." 

"The entire G7 is present in this group," the minister noted.

On March 3, Kuleba announced that the coalition of countries to create the Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine already includes 29 countries, one of which is from Latin America (Guatemala).

The countries' first meeting took place on January 26, when 21 countries participated in the discussion. The second coalition meeting will be held on March 21-22 in Strasbourg.

On March 2 last year, the International Criminal Court began investigating possible crimes committed in Ukraine. A joint investigative group, including several European judicial bodies, was created to collect evidence of russian war crimes in Ukraine.

While the ICC can deal with war crimes committed by individuals, it does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the crime of aggression. In connection with this, Ukraine is promoting the idea of creating a special tribunal against russia.

With its allies and partners, Ukraine has developed three models for establishing and operating a special tribunal regarding the crime of russian aggression.

At the end of January, representatives of 20 countries gathered in Prague for a group meeting on creating a special tribunal.

Earlier, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, offered various options for creating a special tribunal to bring the russian leadership to justice and the corresponding assistance of the Council of Europe.