Enough European countries now back court to prosecute Putin's aggression

Russian President Vladimir Putin in an undisclosed location, Russia, on March 30, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov / Pool / AFP / Getty Images) Prefer on Google by Chris Powers At least 17 European countries are ready to commit to a special tribunal tasked with prosecuting the crime of aggression against Ukraine, passing a critical threshold that allows the idea to progress at a Council of Europe meeting in May. The Kyiv Independent has learned that, in addition to the 14 supporting European countries noted publicly by Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the president's office, three more countries are ready to back the tribunal, bringing the total to 17, above the required minimum of 16 European states. Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot will propose to the country's governing coalition to officially back the tribunal in the near future, a foreign ministry spokesperson told Kyiv Independent. "We believe that closing the impunity gap for the crime of aggression is both a legal imperative and a political necessity," they said. Countries that independently confirmed their intention to join the Enlarged Partial Agreement (EPA) on the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. (Nizar al-Rifai/The Kyiv Independent) Similarly, Denmark's foreign affairs ministry told the Kyiv Independent that "Denmark has supported the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine from the outset." The Danish spokesperson could not elaborate further, given the ongoing negotiations to form a new government following the March elections. However, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is set to continue in her post, in a country where there is broad support for Ukraine. And "Austria is planning to support it as well," the Austrian foreign ministry told the Kyiv Independent. The idea of the special tribunal to prosecute the crime of aggression — i.e., the conscious decision to invade and attack another country — is not new. In March 2022, legal scholar Philippe Sands argued that Putin be prosecuted in a new and separate tribunal for this crime. A separate tribunal is required because, while the International Criminal Court in The Hague can investigate Russia's war crimes against Ukraine, it does not have jurisdiction to rule specifically on Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to attack Ukraine. Ukraine agreed to set up the tribunal in June 2025 with the Council of Europe, a body comprising almost all European countries, and from which Russia was expelled in March 2022. For the special tribunal to take effect, it requires a willing host country and enough countries to financially commit to it by signing the "Enlarged Partial Agreement." Securing enough countries willing to sign on to the Enlarged Partial Agreement took longer. Lithuania was the first to do so, in November 2025. It was only after European foreign ministers met in Bucha on March 31 — to commemorate the massacre of hundreds of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops early in the full-scale invasion — that the declarations of intent began pouring in. Non-European countries can also sign on to the agreement. Costa Rica is the only one to have done so far. And while 16 is the minimum, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said : "We count on a much wider range of participants." The question of the host country also appears to be progressing smoothly, with the Netherlands having formally declared its interest in hosting the tribunal in October 2025, and the Dutch have confirmed to Kyiv Independent that work to make it concrete is ongoing. "The Netherlands, in consultation with the CoE, is scouting possible locations for the initial phase of the tribunal," said Arjen Uijterlinde, the Netherlands' Special Envoy for the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine. A general view shows the official logo and inscription of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, in July 2025. (Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images) He added that an interim host-state agreement is being negotiated as part of the process. Taken together, that means foreign ministers of the 46 Council of Europe countries will be able to progress the special tribunal when they meet for their annual Committee of Ministers in Chisinau on May 14-15.Moldova, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of Europe until the end of that meeting, has "operationalization of the special tribunal" as its top priority, and with at least 16 European countries set to back the tribunal, that becomes possible. Separately, the European Commission proposed after the Bucha meeting that the EU play a larger role in the special tribunal. The EU helped draft the legal texts establishing the special tribunal in 2025, and with establishing a specialist center based in the Netherlands, tasked with gathering evidence. In January, the EU contributed 10 million euros ($12 million) to lay the groundwork for the tribunal. Unlike Ukraine's EU membership status, and the approval of the €90 billion loan for Kyiv, both of which are being held back by Hungarian vetoes, EU diplomats told Kyiv Independent that only a qualified majority — 55% of EU countries representing 65% of the population — is required to vote in favor. That process is ongoing. Two EU working parties made up of national civil servants are considering the proposal from April 6-10, and assuming they back the proposal, it would then be put to a vote of national ministers, expected in the second half of April. If approved, the EU would then have a say over exactly when the tribunal begins work and on the appointment of judges, in the same way as individual signatory countries. Chris Powers is the Brussels Correspondent with the Kyiv Independent. He is tasked with reporting on EU news and policy developments relevant to Ukraine, bridging the gap between Brussels and Kyiv. He was formerly the Defense and Tech Editor at the EU media outlet Euractiv. Chris holds a BA in History from the University of Cambridge and an MA in European Studies from the College of Europe.