Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Commission announced plans to set up a UN-backed war crimes tribunal to investigate possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen noted that the Commission wants to launch the specialised court in cooperation with the international community, stressing that the body should be founded with the “broadest international support possible,” according to France24 reporting on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian government has been pushing for the creation of such a tribunal to prosecute Russian politicians and military leaders it blames for starting the war in Ukraine.
While the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague lacks jurisdiction to prosecute those responsible for hostilities in Ukraine, it still launched an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
“While continuing to support the ICC, we are proposing to set up a specialised court backed by the UN to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crime of aggression,” von der Leyen reiterated.
In a statement released on Wednesday, von der Leyen pointed out that the EC “blocked 300 billion euro of the Russian Central Bank reserves and we have frozen 19 billion euro of Russian oligarchs’ money.”
Seize blocked assets
She pointed out that the EU and its partners can manage and invest the money in the short term, stressing that any proceeds would go to Kiev as compensation for the damage caused to Ukraine.
“We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible… and together, we can find legal ways to get to it,” von der Leyen stated.
Also on Wednesday, Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland, stressed the importance of providing more weapons and money to Ukraine to “make sure that they will win.”
She called on Western countries to impose harsher sanctions against Russia, noting that people in all parts of the world are suffering because of the war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Ukraine called on NATO members to send more weapons and money, stressing that time is of the essence.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, pointed out that Ukraine needs more weapons, especially air defence systems, urging NATO members to send them “faster, faster, faster.”
