The European Union has warned that US President Donald Trump’s efforts to broker peace in Ukraine must not allow Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to escape responsibility for war crimes committed by Moscow’s forces, writes Politico.
EU Justice and Democracy Commissioner Michael McGrath told Politico that negotiators must ensure that efforts to broker a ceasefire do not end with Russia avoiding prosecution for war crimes. His comments reflect concerns in European capitals that the original US peace plan promised a full amnesty for war crimes and Russia’s full return to the international economy without sanctions.
Despite international condemnation of the war crimes committed by the Kremlin, including the abduction of some 20,000 Ukrainian children and attacks on civilians in Buch, Mariupol and elsewhere, the Trump administration has sought to rehabilitate the Kremlin leadership. McGrath said history would not forgive attempts to give Russia a clean slate, and that the Russians must take responsibility for what they have done, and that is exactly the EU’s position in peace talks.
The commissioner added that forgiving and forgetting crimes would become the seed for the next outbreak of aggression and the next invasion: “And I believe that that would be a historic mistake of huge proportions.”
Ukrainian authorities have reported that 178,000 cases have been opened for Moscow’s war crimes since the start of the full-scale war. A UN commission concluded in November that Russian authorities had committed crimes against humanity by attacking civilians with drones and forcibly displacing and deporting Ukrainians.
McGrath said that the victims of Russia’s aggression and crimes should not be deprived of their rights
– millions of lives have been destroyed, people have been displaced against their will, and there is ample evidence of this.
The EU and other countries have established a special tribunal to hold Russian leaders accountable. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest. However, Trump and his team have so far shown no interest in punishing Putin. Instead, the US president regularly assesses the Russian dictator positively and often indicates that he is able to negotiate well with Putin. Trump has also expressed hope for economic cooperation with Russia, and the two have even discussed the possibility of organizing hockey games in Russia and the United States after the end of the war. The original 28-point peace plan was also designed in favor of Russia. It was intended that Russia would return to the international economy and be invited to rejoin the G7 group.
The initial version of the peace plan stated that the United States would begin long-term cooperation with Russia in the fields of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centers, rare earth metals mining and other areas. It also called for the gradual lifting of sanctions against Moscow, but EU leaders opposed this, stating that the lifting of the bloc’s sanctions was an EU issue only.
True, not everyone in Europe wants to put pressure on Russia. Hungary has repeatedly blocked the introduction of new sanctions, especially in the energy sector, because it is very dependent on the aggressor country for oil and gas. In Germany, certain officials have also talked about lifting sanctions in order to use the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines.
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