France: Zelensky expected in Strasbourg to formalize the creation of a special tribunal

During his diplomatic tours, Volodymyr Zelensky had never yet stopped in Strasbourg. However, his Council of Europe (46 member states) has uncompromisingly supported Ukraine since 2022, and even expelled Russia from its membership after the full-scale invasion – something no other international organization has done.

Certainly, its support is neither financial nor logistical (it has neither the mission nor the means), but it is not symbolic either. As a protector of legal rules and human rights on the continent, it provides valuable expertise, and its European Court of Human Rights has received thousands of applications on abuses committed in Ukraine since 2014, including the crash of flight MH17 , on which a judgment is due in July.

Very soon after the invasion, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council called for the creation of a special tribunal to "investigate and prosecute the crime of aggression committed by the political and military leaders" of Russia. Three years of legal expertise and diplomatic discussions later, this tribunal is about to be created. Volodymyr Zelensky will sign its birth certificate in Strasbourg this Wednesday. It will operate under the auspices of the Council of Europe, with the announced support of more than 30 states and the European Union.

France "fully supports this very good initiative," former minister Pap Ndiaye, French ambassador to the Council of Europe , told us. "It is very important that proceedings be initiated against the Russian leaders, by the International Criminal Court on the one hand, to judge the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed, but also by this special tribunal, to judge the crime of aggression, which corresponds to what the Nuremberg tribunal called a "crime against peace." Like, for example, militarily invading one of its neighbors...

It is a matter of condemning those responsible, but also of sealing a ban, "ensuring that destruction, violence and force do not prevail," summarizes the Secretary General of the Council, the Swiss Alain Berset.

Russia will also have to pay reparations. The damage registry opened by the Council last year has already received 34,000 complaints from Ukrainians for material and human losses. Its offices are located in The Hague, where the new special tribunal is also expected to be located.

The Hague is also where the NATO summit is currently taking place. Ukraine isn't a member, but Zelensky is there to remobilize his supporters... and those who are less supportive: he's scheduled to meet with Donald Trump this Wednesday, just before flying to Strasbourg.