44 countries back Kyiv's idea of creating special tribunal for Russian crimes against Ukraine

Representatives of 44 countries stressed the importance of Russia's full responsibility for crimes against Ukraine by supporting the idea of creating a special tribunal for this during a meeting in the Netherlands, announced Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba. This message is also seconded in the declaration published on the website of the Dutch government.

In the declaration following the results of the "Restoring Justice in Ukraine" conference, the signatory countries stated that they "remain committed to the creation of a special tribunal for the investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression against Ukraine." The signatories also welcomed the proposal of the Netherlands to host such a special tribunal.

The final document has so far been signed by: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan , Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States.

In total, 57 countries participated in the conference.

Ukraine's top diplomat noted that two years ago, the idea of creating a special tribunal was "categorically rejected" by everyone, and a year ago, according to him, it seemed that the work on it "was bogged down in disputes between states."

However, Kuleba is now confident that countries will be able to find "all the necessary solutions and implement the tribunal."

"We need to make another push to do it," he stressed.

On July 3, 2023, the International Center responsible for investigating the Russian invasion of Ukraine opened. Ukraine's presidency stated that the opening of this center is a step towards a special tribunal over the authorities of the Russian Federation.

On September 10, Kuleba said that the issue of the special tribunal for Russian war criminals was the only one where he failed to fulfill Zelenskyy's mandate.