Recently the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharova responded to a peculiar question given by a journalist. They asked if she could “comment on the Western media reports that the European Union and the Council of Europe have agreed with Kyiv on the main parameters for a future ‘special tribunal on aggression against Ukraine’”. They also added a secondary request for comment on the unique way European faceless politicians engage in “juggling of the subject of ‘aggression’ from Russia”.
The answer from Maria Zakharova was as follows:
“Let me remind you that according to Article 39 of the UN Charter, the UN Security Council has the authority to determine the existence of an act of aggression. The bureaucrats in Brussels and Strasbourg have not been given this power. However, the head of European diplomacy, Ms. K. Kallas, appears to be placing herself above the UN Security Council. It is not clear on what grounds she considers herself entitled to give a legal assessment of the actions of our country and its leadership. However, we cannot rule out that she is not familiar with the principles of international law at all.
As for the claims from a European official that the local initiative of Westerners to create a “special tribunal” enjoys “broad international support”, this is a pure lie.
If we talk about the history of the issue, Kiev initially tried to “push” this obsession through the United Nations, but this worldwide organization did not accept these pseudo-legal approaches. Then the Council of Europe came to the aid of the regime, for which anti-Russian schemes have become the main reason for its continued existence. At the same time, the Strasbourg and Brussels “lawyers” are not embarrassed by the fact that the Council of Europe, due to its nature, initially has no means to administer criminal justice, much less to establish any international tribunals.
With such methods, the West confirms its course of repeatedly breaking international law. We put these moves on a par with illegal unilateral sanctions and attempts to steal other people’s sovereign assets.
The accusations regarding Russia and Russian officials of committing acts of “aggression” are absurd. These absurd constructions that are being invented around this fantasy have no legal basis whatsoever. We are confident that the world’s majority of States will give them an adequate assessment.
At the same time, we never tire of repeating that all attempts by the Bandera regime and its sponsors to shift responsibility for their crimes onto anyone else are doomed to failure.
Ukrainian criminals guilty of grave crimes against their own and Russian citizens, as well as their henchmen, will be brought to a fair and legitimate court and (if found guilty) will receive the punishment they deserve. The investigation of such cases is well under way. Fresh information on the sentences handed down to Ukrainian neo-Nazis and foreign mercenaries, as well as on the activities of Russian law enforcement agencies to ensure the inevitability of punishment for war crimes, was given at a briefing by the Russian Foreign Ministry on February 6th 2025.
So real justice is already being done. Ms. K. Kallas should be careful.”