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The US may leave efforts to prosecute Russia for invading Ukraine, refusing to label Russia as an “aggressor”.
This stance threatens a 40-nation coalition’s plan for a tribunal against Vladimir Putin for war crimes.
The US has signalled that it could leave an international effort to prosecute Russia for invading Ukraine, the Telegraph can reveal.
US envoys refused to label Russia as an “aggressor” at a meeting of a “core group” of countries preparing a Nuremberg-style tribunal to try Vladimir Putin for his war crimes, according to Western officials.
European officials fear flattery of Vladimir Putin (left) by Donald Trump (right) could lead to the Russian despot being let off the hook for his invasion as part of any peace settlement. Photo / Getty Images
Washington is similarly refusing to co-sponsor a United Nations statement that supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and demands that Moscow withdraw its forces from the war-torn nation.
Trump’s administration has also refused to sign off a planned G7 statement calling Russia the “aggressor” in the war with Ukraine to mark the third anniversary of the conflict on Monday.
The US President has blamed Ukraine for starting the war, branded Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and pushed for Russia to be invited back to the alliance of industrialised nations.
European officials fear Trump’s flattery of Putin could lead to the Russian despot being let off the hook for his invasion as part of any peace settlement.
This stance has put preparations for the final meeting of the “core group” next month in doubt. The group is leading a 40-nation coalition to form a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, modelled on the response to Nazi war crimes after World War II.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left), here seen with US envoy Keith Kellogg, has been called a "dictator" by Donald Trump. Photo / AFP
It would involve the US and other countries joining Ukraine to grant jurisdiction to a dedicated criminal tribunal to investigate both the perpetrators of the crime of aggression and those complicit in that crime.
The crime of aggression cannot be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
“Unless they acknowledge it’s an aggression, they can’t participate,” an official said of US opposition to the labelling of Russia as an aggressor.
Losing Washington’s backing for the tribunal will be a major blow to the project’s international reputation and standing.
“This is quite a drastic shift,” a European diplomat told the Telegraph. “Rewriting history and pretending that Russia wasn’t the one who started this war is something that we simply cannot and will not agree to.”
The US has not yet officially withdrawn from the scheme and is expected to attend its next meeting next month in Strasbourg, France.
Vladimir Putin had been branded a “war criminal” by former US President Joe Biden, who signed off a series of international statements that described Russia as the aggressor state. Photo / Getty Images
A diplomatic note seen by the Telegraph revealed European officials were “shocked” at US claims at a series of international meetings that Russia should be invited back into the “civilised world”.
European capitals are now holding talks over a possible collapse of the special tribunal if the US does walk away as feared.
The latest US position marks a significant shift in policy between Joe Biden and Trump.
The former President had branded Putin a “war criminal” and signed off a series of international statements that described Russia as the aggressor state.
Washington is now pushing for the almost three-year war to be called the “Ukraine conflict” in discussions with international allies.
A State Department readout of the meeting between Marco Rubio, the US state secretary, and Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, twice described the war as “the conflict in Ukraine”.
