Russian opposition figure explains why a special tribunal over Russia would be a good move for the country

France has started working with its European and Ukrainian partners to set up a special tribunal for Russian crimes in Ukraine. Russian opposition politician Dmitry Gudkov said that this was a signal to the so-called Russian elites:

Firstly, not only in terms of justice, it is important so that a clear signal is sent to the Russian elites, among others, that Putin is someone no one else will do business with.It is important in terms of splitting the elites

He stressed that to end the war it is not enough to liberate Ukraine from its invaders, it is important that the regime is changed:

When this international military tribunal appears, when Putin goes the way of Milosevic, that's when Russia will have the opportunity to change this criminal regime

He reminded that in the case of Milosevic there were sanctions too, and when Milosevic was declared a war criminal and the Serbian elites were asked to extradite the war criminal in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, this is what happened.

Milosevic was surrendered by his own people, because it is better to get rid of a war criminal, but to give the country a chance

We shall remind you that on 30 November, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed to set up a special tribunal under the UN aegis to investigate Russia's actions in Ukraine. According to von der Leyen, the EU is ready to work with the international community to secure support from different states.

In October, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution calling on Council of Europe members to recognize Russia as a "terrorist regime" and speed up the establishment of a special international tribunal in connection with the aggression against Ukraine. In November, a similar resolution was approved by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Additionally, the International Criminal Court in The Hague started investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine since 21 November 2013.