A political agreement has been reached to create an international tribunal for the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
The decision was made at a meeting in western Ukraine, where EU's Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas and others are present. Sweden is represented by Cabinet Secretary Dag Hartelius.
Today, you have a decision to create a mechanism to prevent future wars, through accountability: a decision to create a tribunal. Russia must be held accountable for its aggression, just like the Nazis for their war, says Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in a greeting via link to the participants.
"Historical"
The work on creating the tribunal has been ongoing since 2022 and is supported by around 40 countries, mainly within the EU but also G7.
Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (The Moderate Party) is positive.
This is a giant step towards holding high-ranking politicians and military personnel accountable for the aggression committed by Russia against Ukraine. This is also historical. It has not been done since the (tribunal against German Nazi leaders in) Nuremberg and the tribunal in Japan after World War II, she says to TT and SR Ekot in connection with this week's EU foreign ministers' meeting in Warsaw.
USA stands outside
It is not yet clear where the court will be located, although the Netherlands – which, among other things, hosted the tribunals for the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia – has promised to consider hosting.
A drawback is that the USA has so far opted out of the cooperation. Another is that the tribunal will only be able to hold top leaders accountable after they have left their posts.
This is according to international law, and we cannot circumvent it – that the president, prime minister, foreign minister, as long as they hold their positions, are immune. But it does not prevent them from being held accountable in a later stage, says Maria Malmer Stenergard.
Corrected: In an earlier version, the wrong president was mentioned in the introduction.
