The Council of Europe has unveiled plans to create a special tribunal to address Russia's aggression against Ukraine. On February 4, in Brussels, Secretary General Alain Berset stated that this tribunal will be established within the framework of the Council of Europe.

He emphasized that this initiative will allow international partners, particularly Ukraine and the European Union, to fully utilize the Council's expertise in human rights protection and the rule of law across the continent.

The core group for establishing the tribunal comprises 41 countries, the European Commission, the European External Action Service, and the Council of Europe itself. According to sources from Deutsche Welle, the current meeting of the tribunal's initiators may be the penultimate one, with the next meeting possibly taking place in the spring, during which the document establishing the special tribunal is expected to be signed.

The crime of aggression, considered one of the most serious offenses, holds the leaders and military commanders of the aggressor state accountable. In response to DW's inquiry about how the establishment of an international tribunal might affect potential negotiations that U.S. President Donald Trump intends to conduct with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kaja Kallas, head of the EU's foreign policy service, stated that “there is no doubt that Putin has committed the crime of aggression by deciding to attack another country, infringing upon Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Kallas also emphasized that the tribunal's work is necessary to hold the guilty accountable and to establish a just peace in Ukraine.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. In 2022, Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Kyiv, the West, and the majority of UN member states have characterized as unprovoked aggression. Russian authorities have cited "denazification" and "demilitarization" as the main objectives of the war.