The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution that recognizes Russiaʼs actions as genocide of the Ukrainian people and envisages the decolonization of the Russian Federation as a prerequisite for stable peace.
This was written by Pavlo Frolov, a member of the permanent delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
In its resolution, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly condemned Russiaʼs 10-year armed aggression against Ukraine. It contains 70 points, including, in particular, a call to all 53 OSCE participating states to make efforts to de-occupy Crimea and all occupied territories of Ukraine.
The participating states were also called upon to create a Special Tribunal to hold Russia accountable for the war against Ukraine, as well as to conduct international and national investigations into the mass murders, tortures, and rapes committed by the Russian occupiers.
The resolution emphasized the need to quickly launch a mechanism for the use of frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine. And the participating states were offered to join the Agreement on the International Register of Damages Caused to Ukraine by Russiaʼs Aggression.
The resolution recognizes the 2024 presidential election in the Russian Federation as rigged and undermines the legitimacy of the entire electoral system of the Russian Federation. It also calls for banning the import of Russian liquefied gas to the European Union, re-export and transit through EU ports.
At the same time, the resolution adopted by the OSCE PA assures support for the creation of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children and ensuring the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians from captivity. As of December 2023 , Ukraine had official confirmation that Russia captured 28,000 Ukrainian civilians and deported 19,540 Ukrainian children.
Aggression Tribunal
For more than two years, Ukraine has been working to create a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression and bring Putin and other high-ranking Russian officials to justice there. In order to overcome Putinʼs presidential immunity, as well as for the tribunal to be legitimate, it must be supported by the worldʼs leading democracies, primarily the United States — and they are not against it, but not in the format that Ukraine needs.
Ukraine insists on the International Tribunal, and the USA supports an internationalized tribunal, which will be part of the Ukrainian judicial system, but with the involvement of international prosecutors. National courts cannot override the immunity of the head of state, but the US does not want to set a precedent that will lead to an investigation of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Currently, 44 countries have supported the creation of the Special Tribunal to investigate crimes of the Russian Federation. This was done by a number of European and international institutions, in particular the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assemblies of NATO and the OSCE.