Register of damage from Russian aggression to be launched in May - CoE Secretary General

An international register of damage caused by Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine will be launched in early May by a group of Council of Europe member states.

Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said this during a discussion on Thursday in Vienna, Ukrinform reports citing APA.

"If we want to have victim-centered justice, we must act now in order not to lose information," Pejčinović Burić said.

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According to her, a "coalition of willing states" in the Council of Europe will officially announce the creation of the register in early May. The heads of state and government of the Council of Europe member states are expected to approve this step at their summit in Reykjavik on May 16-17.

It is planned that the new institution will be headquartered in The Hague, with a branch in Kyiv.

"In this way, we are clearing the way for the creation of a compensation mechanism in the future," said the Council of Europe Secretary General.

For her part, Austrian Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Aloisia Wörgetter told APA that Austria co-authored the decision taken on Wednesday in Strasbourg on the need to create such a register of damage.

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"A statute is currently being drafted, and Austria is also actively involved in this process," the ambassador said.

She noted that, by May 10, at least 16 Council of Europe member states should have officially established the registry, and thus it should already exist during the Reykjavik summit.

According to Wörgetter, about 25-30 employees will work on this register in The Hague, including several employees in the Kyiv branch. The annual budget, which will be distributed among the member states of the Council of Europe, should be about 8 million euros.

As reported earlier, on November 14, 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution to establish a mechanism to compensate Ukraine for losses caused by the war that Russia unleashed and is still waging against Ukraine.

At the end of December 2022, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine announced the start of the process of creating an international register of damage caused by Russia’s armed aggression.