Consultations on prosecuting Russia for crime of aggression against Ukraine held in The Hague

"We worked in The Hague, we held regular consultations with our Dutch partners actually. We discuss various issues, in particular, the responsibility for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, the possibility of certain actions within the framework of the UN General Assembly, the creation of a special tribunal, how to strengthen and internationalize the national investigation and prosecution for committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine. All these issues are being discussed," Anton Korynevych, Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, told an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague in an exclusive comment.

The Ambassador-at-Large also said that consultations in The Hague were held with representatives of the Dutch government, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and experts.

"We held substantive consultations. We will move further searching for the best options, opportunities both to create a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and strengthen the internationalization of the national investigation into the crime of aggression against Ukraine," Korynevych noted and emphasized that the creation of the special tribunal should be the result of joint efforts of the international community.

He added that a resolution of the Dutch Parliament was adopted in October calling for the creation of the special tribunal in The Hague.

"In our opinion, it is a very good and correct initiative. At the moment, the key question is: how and what should be done to create the special tribunal," he emphasized.

Korynevych believes that cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) is also very important for Ukraine.

"I am convinced that the International Criminal Court should show good results regarding the investigation into the situation in Ukraine, it has all the tools for this. We absolutely support active cooperation with the ICC. The special tribunal will complement the work of the ICC. We see the special tribunal as a complementary mechanism to the ICC regarding the crime of aggression against Ukraine, a crime over which the ICC has no jurisdiction in our specific situation," he said.

The diplomat emphasized that the crime of aggression against Ukraine "is the most obvious one since the end of World War II. This crime of aggression against Ukraine cannot be left unanswered because then it would mean that any dictator can do similar things whenever he wants realizing that he will not be brought to justice for this and everything will be limited to the responsibility of middle-level commanders for committing war crimes or crimes against humanity."

Therefore, it is in the interests of the international community not to ignore the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

"We believe and are convinced that investigating and bringing to justice for the crime of aggression is the fastest and most effective way to reach the highest political and military leadership of the Russian Federation," Korynevych emphasized.

As reported, Ukraine took the initiative to create special tribunal to prosecute members of the Russian Security Council for the crime of aggression against our state.

President Volodymyr Zelensky formed a working group led by Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak to deal with the issue of creating special international tribunal to hold those guilty of aggression against Ukraine to account.

The creation of such a tribunal was supported by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Kyiv considers several options for creating the special tribunal, one of which is based on an agreement between Ukraine and the UN which can adopt a relevant resolution.

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