Top EU official warns Trump peace push must not grant impunity to Putin

A senior European Union figure has cautioned that Donald Trump’s drive to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine must not lead to Russian President Vladimir Putin escaping accountability for war crimes, effectively drawing a new red line for any prospective peace deal.

In an interview with POLITICO, Michael McGrath, the European commissioner for justice and democracy, said negotiators must ensure that diplomatic efforts do not undermine ongoing attempts to prosecute Russian officials for atrocities committed during the conflict. His remarks reflect mounting concern in several European capitals that an early version of the US peace blueprint contained provisions for a “full amnesty for actions committed during the war,” as well as steps to reintegrate Russia into the global economy, Caliber.Az reports. 

“I don’t think history will judge kindly any effort to wipe the slate clean for Russian crimes in Ukraine,” McGrath said. “They must be held accountable for those crimes and that will be the approach of the European Union in all of these discussions.

“Were we to do so, to allow for impunity for those crimes, we would be sowing the seeds of the next round of aggression and the next invasion,” he added. “And I believe that that would be a historic mistake of huge proportions.”

United Nations commission last month concluded that Russian authorities had carried out crimes against humanity through drone attacks on residential areas, as well as war crimes involving the forcible transfer and deportation of civilians.

“We cannot give up on the rights of the victims of Russian aggression and Russian crimes,” McGrath said. “Millions of lives have been taken or destroyed, and people forcibly removed, and we have ample evidence.”

The EU and several partners have been working to establish a special tribunal to pursue charges of aggression against Russian leaders. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him of being “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population [children]” from Ukraine.

By Sabina Mammadli