The proposed International Criminal Tribunal for the Russian Federation is a proposed ad hoc international criminal tribunal aimed at prosecuting the Russian Federation and senior Russian and Belarusian leaders for the Russian invasions of Ukraine as one or more crimes of aggression, as a complement to the existing International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine. [1] Several international bodies announced their support for its establishment, including the Council of Europe, [2] the European Commission, [3] the NATO Parliamentary Assembly [4] and the European Parliament. [1]
In April 2022 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called for an ad hoc international criminal tribunal. [5] In September 2022, the Council of Europe proposed to create a tribunal that would have a mandate to "investigate and prosecute the crime of aggression" committed by "the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation." [2] Under the Council of Europe's proposal, the tribunal should be located in Strasbourg, "apply the definition of the crime of aggression" established in customary international law and "have the power to issue international arrest warrants and not be limited by State immunity or the immunity of heads of State and government and other State officials." [2]
The government of Ukraine called for the establishment of such a tribunal. [6] [7]
In November 2022 the NATO Parliamentary Assembly designated the Russian Federation as a terrorist organization and called upon the international community to "take collective action towards the establishment of an international tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression committed by Russia with its war against Ukraine." [4] [8] The European Commission said that the European Union (EU) would work to establish an ad hoc criminal tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russia's crime of aggression. [3] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] In the same month the European Parliament also designated Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, citing attacks against civilians, war crimes, and atrocities. [17]
On 19 January 2023, the European Parliament called for the creation of an international tribunal to carry out investigations and prosecutions for Russian and Belarusian responsibility for the crime of aggression, complementary to the International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine. The vote passed with 472 votes in favour, 19 against and 33 abstentions. [1]
In late February 2023, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that a "core group" for creating the tribunal existed, including representation from Guatemala. [18] In March 2025, the core group held its fourteenth and final meeting, finishing the technical preparation of drafts of three documents: a bilateral agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe (CoE) to establish the tribunal; the tribunal's statutes; and a management document. [19] Hosting of the tribunal was likely to be in The Hague. It was expected that trials in absentia for prosecuting Russian leaders while they remained in office would be excluded. Planned formalisation of the agreements was scheduled for signing by Ukrainian authorities on 9 May 2025, to be followed by a vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). [20]
Following European Union (EU) supported negotiations in March 2023, and given that neither Ukraine nor Russia had ratified the 2010 ICC Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute that added the crime of aggression alongside war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide to ICC jurisdiction, [21] the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA) was created in July 2023 by Eurojust to gather evidence and coordinate judicial actions related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a crime of aggression. The creation of the centre was seen as a first step towards creating a tribunal. [22] Aims of the ICPA would include supporting exchange of evidence and coordination of investigative and prosecutorial strategies. A European Union (EU) joint investigation team including Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvia, Estonian, Polish and Romanian representatives participated in establishing the ICPA. [23]
The creation of the ICPA was the first institutional action to investigate a specific crime of aggression since World War II. The International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction for crimes of aggression became effective in 2018. As of 2023 [update] , the ICC was not authorised to investigate the invasion of Ukraine as a crime of aggression. The ICC declared its willingness to support and cooperate with the ICPA. [22]
On 9 May 2025, representatives of 35 states and the Council of Europe met in Lviv and, with support from head of EU foreign policy Kaja Kallas and EU Commissioner Michael McGrath, agreed to proceed with creating the proposed tribunal, stating that legal instruments were technically complete. A followup meeting on 13–14 May in Luxembourg by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe was scheduled for further formal steps in creating the tribunal. [24]
Some international lawyers criticized the proposed tribunal. Kevin Jon Heller stated practical concerns, including obtaining suspects and evidence, predicted that the tribunal would not necessarily "be able to prosecute Russian officials who would be entitled to immunity ratione personae", and expressed worries about the "selectivity of international criminal justice" that it would express. [25] Sergey Vasiliev argued that an ad hoc tribunal would be unable to secure the presence of Putin or other defendants in the absence of Russian cooperation. [26]
In contrast, Carrie McDougall argued that an ad hoc tribunal was the best available option to try this particular crime of aggression for which the International Criminal Court lacks jurisdiction. [27]
The idea is also supported by Evhen Tsybulenko and Henna Rinta-Pollari, who stated: "...the most appropriate approach to prosecuting the crime in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war is to establish an international ad hoc tribunal, either through a treaty signed by the United Nations and Ukraine on the basis of a referral from the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Secretary-General or a multilateral treaty between Ukraine and other states supported by the United Nations". [28]
Australia [29] 
Austria [30] 
Costa Rica [31] 
Czech Republic [32] 
Estonia [32] 
Finland [33] 
France [32] 
Germany [34] 
Greece [35] 
Latvia [36] 
Lithuania [37] 
Luxembourg [38] 
Moldova [39] 
Netherlands [40] 
Poland [41] 
Romania [42] 
Slovakia [32] 
Slovenia [43] 
Ukraine [44] 
United Kingdom [45] 
United States of America [46] Other political bodies:
