The EU will work to set up a special tribunal to try “Russia’s crimes” in Ukraine and wants to mobilize frozen Russian assets to rebuild the country, European Commission President Ursula von announced on Wednesday. der Leyen.
“While continuing to support the International Criminal Court (ICC, based in The Hague), we propose to establish a special tribunal supported by the United Nations to investigate and prosecute Russia’s crimes of aggression” against the Ukraine, she said in a video posted on Twitter.
The creation of such a tribunal has been called for several times by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We are ready to start working with the international community to gain the widest possible international support for this tribunal,” Ms. von der Leyen explained.
The President of the Commission also wants to make Moscow pay for the material destruction in Ukraine.
“Together with our partners, we will ensure that Russia pays for the devastation it has caused, using the frozen funds of the oligarchs and the assets of its central bank,” she said.
600 billion euros in damage
The EU has already blocked 300 billion euros in reserves of the Russian Central Bank and froze 19 billion euros in assets belonging to Russian oligarchs, she recalled.
“In the short term, we could create (…) a structure to manage these funds and invest them. We will then use these funds for Ukraine,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
“Once the sanctions are lifted, these funds should be used for Russia to pay compensation for the damage done to Ukraine. We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible. And together, we can find legal ways to make it happen,” she said.
More than 20,000 Ukrainian civilians and more than 100,000 military personnel have been killed since the invasion of Ukraine began in February, the EU chief executive has said.
The damage suffered by Ukraine is, according to her, estimated at 600 billion euros.
“Russia must pay for its horrible crimes,” insisted Ursula von der Leyen.
In September, the Czech Republic, which holds the six-monthly presidency of the Council of the EU, had already come out in favor of the creation of a special court, after the discovery of hundreds of bodies buried near Izium, a city taken over to the Russians in eastern Ukraine.
The Baltic countries had also called in September for the establishment of such a tribunal.