Yermak on special tribunal for Russia: We already discussing specific mechanisms

Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak held a meeting of the working group on the issue of establishing a special international tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

As the press service of the Head of State informs, the meeting was attended by Deputy Heads of the President’s Office Andriy Smyrnov and Andriy Sybiha, Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Anton Korynevych, and other members of the working group.

Yermak noted that most allies support Ukraine's initiative: "Today, almost all of them say they are willing to participate in the creation of the tribunal. We are no longer discussing the likelihood of the idea itself, but the specific mechanisms of its creation."

Deputy Head of the President's Office Andriy Smyrnov emphasized that two of the three possible scenarios for the creation of the tribunal are acceptable to Ukraine.

According to Yermak, it is necessary to prepare specific proposals that can be presented at international platforms to persuade partners to support the scenario of establishing the tribunal that Ukraine needs.

"We need to find our own recipe for each country. We need to find the key to each country," the Head of the President’s Office believes.

To engage partner countries more effectively in the process of establishing a special tribunal, Yermak suggested holding informational briefings at the President’s Office for representatives of states that support Ukraine's initiative.

Smyrnov noted that at the end of January, a meeting of the Core Group was held in Prague (Czech Republic), where representatives of more than 20 countries discussed further steps towards the creation of a special tribunal.

According to him, Eurojust is also working on holding an international summit on responsibility for the crime of aggression in Ukraine, which should serve as a basis for systematizing evidence in order to formulate charges of the crime of aggression.

In addition, the President’s Office informs that work is underway to establish the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression in Ukraine.

As reported, in September 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky formed a working group headed by Andriy Yermak to study the issue of creating a special tribunal to hold the leadership of the Russian Federation criminally liable for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. The creation of such a tribunal was supported by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and some countries.