Monday

25th Sep 2023

Put Putin and Lavrov on trial, Czech minister says

  • Russian president Vladimir Putin (l): The new tribunal would go after top political leaders (Photo: kremlin.ru)
Listen to article

Russia's president and foreign minister should personally face justice for "aggression" against Ukraine, the Czech Republic's foreign minister has said.

"The Russian leadership — [president Vladimir] Putin, [foreign minister Sergei] Lavrov and others at the top level of the hierarchy and commanding structures — must be held accountable for the devastating war," Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavský told EUobserver on Tuesday (20 September).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavský (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

They were responsible for Russia's "appalling and uncivilised acts", he said. "We must not allow such crimes to become lost in time or forgotten," he added.

Lipavský spoke amid a Czech push to create a new international tribunal to try Russian leaders for the crime of "aggression".

It comes as Putin prepares to annex more Ukrainian territory and amid fresh revelations of Russian mass-murders of Ukrainian civilians.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague already goes after perpetrators of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity".

The crime of "aggression" is defined in the ICC treaty as covering people who "exercise control" over the "political or military action of a state" when it does something of a "gravity and scale" which is a "manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations".

It lists "invasion" and "annexation" as examples of such acts.

The Czech Republic is spearheading Europe's push for the Putin-Lavrov tribunal as the current holder of the EU presidency. Ukraine also backs the move.

Czech experts are studying the legal niceties of the project. "We will also be talking about this with our close partners at the UN General Assembly in New York this week," Lipavský said.

EU leaders have roundly condemned Russia's annexation plan, as Europe weighs its potential reaction to the escalation as well as to mass graves of civilians being found in Izyum, eastern Ukraine.

"All these atrocities and discoveries are feeding into ongoing discussions among the member states about our next step regarding Russia's aggression against Ukraine," an EU foreign service spokesman said.

The last time evidence of a Russian massacre on a similar scale emerged, in Bucha, in northern Ukraine in April, EU capitals ejected hundreds of Russian spies who had been working in Europe under diplomatic cover.

The EU has also imposed seven rounds of economic sanctions and blacklisted hundreds of Russian VIPs over the war since February.

But when asked if the Izyum massacre merited another round of Russian diplomat-spy ejections, the EU spokesman indicated this was not likely.

The April spy-expulsions were "not because of Bucha — it was because they [the Russians who were expelled] had been found in violation of their diplomatic status engaging in activities that go against the Vienna protocol", the spokesman said, referring to a 1961 international treaty governing diplomatic norms.

For their part, EU institutions declared 19 diplomats from Russia's EU embassy to be persona non grata in April.

"Detecting, countering, and disrupting the activities of Russian espionage against the Commission and its staff have always been top priorities for the Commission's security directorate," EU foreign relations chief Josep Borrell said on Monday in reply to an MEPs' question on the subject.

There were "ongoing security briefings to raise staff awareness of counter-espionage" and there was "intensive cooperation with the security authorities of member states and other (EU) institutions," Borrell said.

Cleaning house

But for Bart Groothuis, a Dutch liberal MEP who tabled the question, Borrell failed to answer why EU institutions weren't going further.

The chargé d'affaires at Russia's EU embassy, Kirill Logvinov, was also a spy, Belgium's homeland security service had warned Borrell's people, but the EU let him stay in Brussels anyway, according to EUobserver's sources.

Borrell "didn't answer why the Commission, in an opportunity to throw out all Russian spies from Brussels, decided to leave some in place," Groothuis said.

For his part, Radek Sikorski, a Polish conservative MEP, wrote to the EU Parliament president last year to warn of the dangers of Russian infiltration.

But when asked on Monday if the EU Parliament had tightened security since the war broke out, Sikorski said: "I don't know of any improvements in the EP's counterintelligence capabilities".

EU’s €500m gender violence plan falls short, say auditors

The 'Spotlight Initiative' was launched in 2017 with a budget of €500 million to end all forms of violence or harmful practices against women and girls in partner countries, but so far it has had "little impact", say EU auditors.

Latest News

  1. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  2. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  3. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power
  4. Here's the headline of every op-ed imploring something to stop
  5. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  6. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  7. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  8. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us