Overview
- The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers approved an Enlarged Partial Agreement on Friday in Chișinău that creates the tribunal’s management body and moves the project from planning to implementation.
- Thirty-six countries and the European Union signaled they will join the agreement, including 34 Council of Europe members plus Australia and Costa Rica.
- The Netherlands will host the tribunal’s initial phase in The Hague, and the European Commission has committed €10 million to help set it up.
- The tribunal will investigate and prosecute senior Russian political and military leaders for the crime of aggression, addressing a gap the International Criminal Court cannot cover.
- Participating states must now ratify the accord, appoint judges, and adopt rules, with officials expecting activity to begin in 2027, while a linked reparations track advances through a Register of Damage and a new International Claims Commission.