Ukraine seeks to bring Russia’s political, military leaders to justice for crime of aggression

Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Smyrnov and Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anton Korynevych held a meeting with representatives of foreign media, during which they talked about the project of establishing an international tribunal that will consider the crime of Russian aggression against our country.

The project may be called Tribunal for Russia, the President’s Office reports.

As Anton Korynevych said, there are two levels of responsibility when it comes to Russia's war against Ukraine: the responsibility of the state and the responsibility of individuals, that is, citizens of the Russian Federation.

He noted that the UN International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, and arbitration are for the responsibility of the state, and Ukraine has been working in this direction for a long time already. But currently there is no international court or tribunal that can bring the political and military leaders of the Russian Federation to justice precisely for the crime of aggression.

"If we talk about individual responsibility, then first of all it is responsibility for the most serious original crime - the crime of aggression. The crime of aggression is often called the mother of all crimes, or the supreme international crime. Therefore, Ukraine's goal is to bring the political and military leadership of Russia to justice for committing the crime of aggression against our state," Anton Korynevych emphasized.

Andriy Smyrnov drew attention to the fact that the last time individuals were tried for the crime of aggression, which was then called a crime against peace, by the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials. It had great publicity, results and significance for history in general.

"Since Ukraine is currently witnessing the biggest war in Europe since 1945, we are talking about the need to find appropriate legal solutions. Therefore, the creation of a special tribunal regarding the crime of aggression against Ukraine is a tool for achieving the goal, namely, bringing Russia's top political and military leadership to justice, as well as restoring justice and punishing the guilty," said the Deputy Head of the President's Office.