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Vice-Minister Grigaitė-Daugirdė: a historic decision - the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine within the Council of Europe

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2025-05-14

On 14 May in Luxembourg, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Gabija Grigaitė-Daugirdė, attended the 134th session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe that made a decision to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

In her speech, the Vice-Minister welcomed this historic step and underlined the importance of ensuring Russia's accountability for the crime of aggression and other crimes in order to achieve a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in Ukraine and to ensure long-term peace and security in Europe.

Today, with a common commitment, we affirm that the future is on the side of international law. This will be the first tribunal since Nuremberg to address the crime of aggression - the source of all other international crimes. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union was not tried at Nuremberg, which means for today's Russia that aggression can be justified, forgotten, and repeated," said the Vice-Minister.

Grigaitė-Daugirdė reminded the Committee of Ministers that justice for Lithuania and other Baltic states for Soviet aggression and occupation has never been achieved. Furthermore, on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Russia is spreading disinformation and propaganda to justify its war and international crimes as a 'fight against Nazism'.

During this visit to Luxembourg, the Vice-Minister also met with Luxembourg's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Xavier Bettel, with whom she discussed further support for Ukraine, particularly the establishment of the final stage of the international compensation mechanism - the Compensation Fund - and the necessity to use frozen Russian assets to compensate for the damage caused to Ukraine.

On the sidelines of the Committee of Ministers session, G. Grigaitė-Daugirdė also met with the newly elected President of the European Court of Human Rights, Mattias Guyomar, the Special Envoy of the Council of Europe Secretary General on the situation of children of Ukraine, Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjord Gylfadóttir, and the Council of Europe's Deputy Secretary General, Bjørn Berge.

The annual session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is the main event of the Committee of Ministers. This session was dedicated to the Council of Europe's continued support for Ukraine and the implementation of the Reykjavík commitments, the adoption of the Action Plan for the new Democratic Pact for Europe, and setting further operational guidelines for the Council of Europe.

The Council of Europe has 46 member states and is one of the few international organisations that expelled Russia from its membership following the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in 2022.