Beyond putin: Tribunal may prosecute leaders of other states aiding war against Ukraine

The special tribunal being set up to investigate the crime of aggression against Ukraine may extend its jurisdiction beyond russia’s leadership to include other states that have contributed to the war effort. Among them are Belarus, which effectively provided logistical infrastructure for the russian invasion, and North Korea, which has supplied both weapons and regular army troops to russia.

These developments were discussed during a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine.

“The Special Tribunal focuses exclusively on the crime of aggression, as other international crimes fall under the jurisdiction of existing courts, particularly the International Criminal Court,” said Anton Korynevych, Ambassador-at-Large, Acting Director of the Department General for International Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ukraine’s Agent before the International Court of Justice. “The crime of aggression refers to initiating and waging a war of aggression. This means those responsible can include senior political leadership from not only one state but also others involved in the war itself.”

Korynevych stressed that the tribunal’s purpose is not limited to holding one individual or one nation accountable.

“I want to emphasize that this is not the crime of a single person, it is obviously a crime committed by many individuals. It is crucial that all of them are held accountable,” he said. “And we are not speaking solely about one country. There are at least several other states that are perpetrating the crime of aggression against our country. In some cases, the international community has been unable to develop a mechanism of accountability for decades. That is why this special tribunal is not just about russia, it is also about those countries that support its aggression against Ukraine and are themselves engaged in that aggression.”

At the same briefing, Member of Parliament of Ukraine Yevheniia Kravchuk pointed to specific countries, in addition to russia, that could be examined within the tribunal’s framework.

“First and foremost is Belarus, which provided its territory, airfields, and overall infrastructure to facilitate the russian invasion of Ukraine,” she said. “The tribunal is being created to address the crime of aggression against Ukraine, but part of its work will be to establish who assisted in committing that crime. It is obvious that Belarus is the first candidate aside from russia.

“And, of course, there is the more complex case of North Korea, which is supplying not only weapons but also regular army troops, as we have seen in the Kursk region. This will be more challenging, as it involves the territory of the russian federation. But we are conducting a defense campaign precisely because our territory has been invaded,” Kravchuk explained.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news