The European Commission on Thursday announced the launch of a center to prosecute Russia for the "crime of aggression,” the latest international effort designed to hold Russian leaders accountable for the invasion of Ukraine.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement at a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
The new International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression in Ukraine will coordinate the collection of evidence, von der Leyen said.
The center will be embedded in a joint investigative team created last year by Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, and supported by the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, or Eurojust, she said.
"We will be ready to launch work very rapidly with Eurojust, with Ukraine, with the partners of our joint investigation team, as well as the Netherlands," von der Leyen said. "The perpetrator must be held accountable."
The announcement comes as the international community grapples with the creation of a special international tribunal for the specific purpose of prosecuting senior Russian officials for the crime of aggression.
The crime of aggression is often called the "mother of all crimes" because it is a transgression from which other war crimes flow.
The Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, defines it as the "planning, preparation, initiation or execution" by a military or political leader of an act of aggression — such as an invasion — of one state against another.
While Ukrainian and European prosecutors have been investigating allegations of Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity, international efforts to hold Russian officials allegedly involved in orchestrating the invasion accountable have proved wanting.
Ukrainian prosecutors' hands are tied because heads of government, heads of state and foreign ministers enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution under international law.
The International Criminal Court has been investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine, but it can't prosecute Russian leaders because neither Russia nor Ukraine has ratified the Rome Statute.
To ensure accountability by Russia, Ukraine has pushed for the establishment of an ad hoc special tribunal similar to courts established for war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.
Echoing the description of aggressive war during the Nuremberg trial of Nazi war criminals, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin renewed his country's call this week to hold Russia accountable for "the supreme international crime."
"History taught us well — it is the waging of aggressive war that leads to war crimes and other mass atrocities," Kostin said Wednesday at an event at Georgetown University. "Therefore, it is crucial not only to end the act of aggression but also to hold [the] masterminds of the supreme international crime fully accountable."
Rebecca Hamilton, a law professor at American University and a former lawyer for the International Criminal Court, said that while the new center can't supplant the need for a special tribunal, it can help build momentum toward that end.
"The establishment of this center is a meaningful step in the right direction for Ukrainians seeking full accountability," Hamilton said via email.
