UK will consider backing tribunal to look into Russian war crimes

Dominic Raab says UK will consider backing special tribunal to look into war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine after ICC issued arrest warrant for Putin

• UK pledged support and funding to help victims and witnesses of war crimes
• Raab will ‘consider’ backing tribunal urged by Ukrainian president Zelensky 

Justice Minister Dominic Raab said the UK will ‘consider’ backing a special tribunal to look into possible war crimes in Ukraine, after Zelensky urged nations to back the idea.

It follows the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue a warrant for Putin’s arrest, accusing him of bearing personal responsibility for the abduction of children from Ukraine.

Justice ministers from around the world met yesterday in London to ‘boost international support for the independent ICC’s vital investigations into war crimes’, where Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan KC demanded Russia ‘return’ deported children to Ukraine.

Russia has admitted to transporting thousands of children out of Ukraine but claims it is a ‘humanitarian’ campaign to protect abandoned and orphaned children.

Responding to Zelensky’s concluding pleas for delegates to back a tribunal to look into Russian ‘aggression’, Deputy PM Dominic Raab said: ‘We’ll keep working together to consider it.’

Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister for Justice, gestures as he speaks at a press conference with Minister of Justice and Security of the Netherlands Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius at the end of the International Justice Minister’s Conference in London, Monday, March 20, 2023

Dominic Raab (L) greets Karim Khan (R) ahead of the conference at Lancaster House yesterday

Putin speaks during the Expanded Board Meeting at the Interior Ministry on March 20, 2023

Mr Raab, also Justice Secretary, said: ‘I think right now the priority of this conference has been to try and give the ICC adequate support. 

‘Discussions are still in a relatively preliminary stage; we understand the importance of it to the people of Ukraine and President Zelensky. 

‘We want to try and support them as best we can.’

The comments came after details of the ICC’s warrant for Mr Putin’s arrest were laid out. 

Mr Khan said: ‘The allegations are serious indeed; Ukraine is a crime scene. Many types of allegations have been received. 

‘To anybody who says “what seems to have taken place is humanitarian evacuations”, the evidence tells a different story. 

‘The judges have said so by saying repatriate the children, return the children, reunite the children. 

‘If there is any semblance of truth to the utterances that this is for the sake of the children, instead of giving them a foreign passport, return them to the country of their nationality.’ 

The UK is boosting its financial support for the court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, to £1 million this year and other countries are also expected to commit to financial and practical assistance. 

Ahead of the conference, the UK Government offered support and funding for psychological help for victims and witnesses of crimes, more UK experts to work for the ICC and training for investigators to use digital evidence to bring war criminals to justice.  

Mr Raab said: ‘It is absolutely vital that we unite behind the ICC and we support the office of the prosecutor in whatever it needs.’ 

He added the support will ‘strengthen the prosecutor’s hand’ in pursuing investigating potential war crimes. 

A view of a destroyed building from the village of Krushivka in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 16

The dome of the Orthodox Church of the Holy Mother of God Joy of All Who Sorrow lies next to its building, destroyed as a result of shelling in the village of Bohorodychne

More than 40 nations were represented at the meeting hosted by Mr Raab and Dutch justice minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius. 

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, spoke of ‘ruthless’ attacks and ‘atrocities’ by Russian soldiers against civilians and territories. 

READ MORE: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky urges allies to ensure ‘evil’ Russia is held to account for ‘every act of terror’ as justice ministers meet in London after issuing of arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin

He went on: ‘Russia acts with a clear plan to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainian identity.

‘The deportation and transportation of thousands of Ukrainian children, including from orphanages and care homes to Russia. 

‘Simplifying their illegal adoption process and confirming their citizenship of an aggressive state is very clear evidence of this plan, this is done to cut ties with Ukraine and alter their Ukrainian heritage. 

‘My office has already launched investigations into over 72,000 incidents of war crimes. 

‘Isolated and sporadic attacks, we see how Russian foot soldiers are meticulously implementing unlawful orders given by the Kremlin.’ 

The country’s justice minister, Denys Maliuska, said: ‘There are many people who really have suffered significant damages, losing their husbands and wives, homes and jobs. 

‘Many families have lost their infrastructures, the whole country was semi-destroyed by Russian soldiers. 

‘Those damages should be compensated.’ 

The ICC’s arrest warrant for Mr Putin was the first issued against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. 

The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights. 

The Kremlin dismissed the move against Mr Putin as ‘outrageous and unacceptable’.

Schoolchildren attend a Ukrainian language class while sheltering with their teachers in a metro station during an air raid alert on March 20, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine

A volunteer entertains children at the village of Krushivka in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 16

Moscow, not one of the 123 countries that are parties to the ICC, also said the action was ‘legally void’.

Russia nonetheless now plans to hold an informal meeting on the UN Security Council in April on what is said is ‘the real situation’ of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, told a news conference on Monday that Russia planned the council meeting long before the ICC’s announcement on Friday.

The ICC’s 123 member states are obliged to detain and transfer Putin if he sets foot on their territory. 

Russia is not a member and neither are China, the United States or India, which is hosting a summit later this year of leaders of the G20 group of big economies, which includes Russia. 

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