Yesterday, 14 April, Iceland and Poland confirmed their readiness to join the Council of Europe’s Enlarged Partial Agreement establishing the administrative committee of the special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. According to Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, this marks significant progress towards launching the tribunal’s work.
“As of now, 17 member states have expressed readiness to join the administrative agreement for the special tribunal, exceeding the threshold required by the Council of Europe for its adoption,” the foreign minister explained. “We commend all our partners and allies who have already signalled their intention to participate. I call on all other Council of Europe members, as well as non-members who have not yet done so, to join the agreement and support the work of the special tribunal.”
Tsahkna stressed that the special tribunal for the crime of aggression must be launched as soon as possible. “Russia has shown no indication of abandoning its objectives; on the contrary, its aggression against the Ukrainian state, its people and its environment continues, and international norms are being violated daily,” he said. “It is therefore essential that supporting countries swiftly complete their domestic procedures for the administrative agreement so that the tribunal can begin investigating the crimes of those responsible for the aggression.”
The special tribunal for the crime of aggression is an independent international court to be established on the basis of an agreement between the Council of Europe and Ukraine. Its purpose is to investigate and prosecute those individuals most responsible for committing the crime of aggression. The tribunal will complement the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC): while the ICC investigates war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine, the special tribunal will focus specifically on the crime of aggression.
The tribunal’s founding documents were prepared by a core group established in 2022, comprising legal experts from 40 countries, including Estonia, as well as representatives of the European Union and the Council of Europe. In June 2025, Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the agreement establishing the tribunal. In February, Estonia became the first country whose parliament approved the agreement on establishing the administrative committee of the Council of Europe’s special tribunal for the crime of aggression.
The resolution to adopt the administrative agreement is scheduled for discussion in the Council of Europe in early May and will be submitted at the meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in Chișinău on 14–15 May.
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