There are a number of obstacles that prevent the senior leadership of Russia from being held accountable.
The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly required the international community to create a special tribunalto investigate the crimes of the highest political and military leadership of the Russian Federation. So far, this has not happened, although the number of criminal orders of Putin, Shoigu and their henchmen is only growing. A large number of international lawyers believe that due to the imperfection of the mechanisms of application of international law and the caution of other great powers, the Kremlin dictator can avoid punishment for his actions. This is written by The Intercept.
A number of experts believe that the main obstacle to bringing Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials to justice is that neither Ukraine nor Russia are members of the International Criminal Court, the main body of international jurisdiction that investigates the crimes of the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that the activity of the ISS in Ukraine was supportedin a number of countries, including the United States, human rights defenders emphasize the institution's limited sphere of activity. The court has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity, but cannot prosecute for the crime of aggression against citizens of a non-member country, at least without a special referral from the UN Security Council. Since Russia still has a veto in the institution, it will undoubtedly stand in the way.
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Thus, a problem arises in the way of the investigation of the “crime of all crimes”, since all war crimes are related to the unprovoked invasion of the Russian Federation. Lawyers point out that the work of the International Criminal Court is important and will help bring to justice the executors of criminal orders, but does not include a punishment mechanism for those who gave these orders.
“This issue worries everyone. What is more important? Catch the colonel who led the artillery assault on Mariupol, or Putin?”, says Nathaniel Raymond, a human rights researcher who works as part of the Yale School of Public Health Initiative.
Another international lawyer Philip Sands agrees with Raymond, who also emphasizes the importance of investigating the crime of aggression.
“None of this would have happened if Russia had not invaded. The danger we face is that five years from now we will have three or four trials of low-quality, unnecessary characters who will be completely irrelevant, and the most important criminals will simply get out of the water,” he said. .
Read also: The head of the European Parliament supports Ukraine's initiative regarding a tribunal for Putin
Sands also noted another important obstacle in punishing the top leadership of the Russian Federation. In his opinion, other countries, including the United States, may also oppose prosecuting Putin for the crime of aggression, fearing to set a precedent that could backfire on them.
“They do not want to deal with the crime of aggression, because they know that if it is used today against Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, it can be used against them tomorrow. “The 'big elephant' in the room for Ukraine is Iraq, which was also a clearly illegal war and caused very different reactions in Britain and the United States,” Sands said.
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Earlier, the former prosecutor of the tribunal from Yugoslavia suggested that the tribunal against Putin could be quick.
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