Foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have called on the European Union to establish a Special Tribunal to hold Russia’s political and military leadership to account for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
On Sunday night, the ministers issued a joint statement calling on the EU to continue supporting the ongoing investigations by Ukraine, a number of other states, as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC), as “it plays a key role in collecting evidential materials”.
“Our efforts, however, must not end there. Currently, there is no international court or tribunal that could bring Russia’s top political and military leadership to account for committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine,” the statement said.
The joint statement was issued on the eve of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg.
Foreign ministers of the three Baltic states also stressed that the Special Tribunal for the Punishment of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine would complement the role of the ICC instead of duplicating its functions.
The ministers said that the recent deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructures across Ukraine “is just the latest episode of Russia’s unprovoked terror campaign against Ukrainian people”.
According to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, “aggression is a crime and warrants thorough trial”.
“The EU must ensure that pursuing accountability for Russia’s continued aggression and war crimes in Ukraine is the centre of EU’s policy and activities,” he said in a Twitter post.
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