15. The Assembly points out that international accountability must extend to all private military companies,proxies and allies linked to the Russian Federation who are committing crimes and illegal acts on the territoryof Ukraine, including the Wagner Group and the military forces of Ramzan Kadyrov. A Red Notice (Warrant)should be issued by Council of Europe member States against the leaders and members of theseinternational terrorist groups.

16. Supporting Ukraine also requires curtailing the Kremlin’s ability to finance its war of aggression. A largecoalition of countries and the European Union have imposed an unprecedented range of diplomatic, financialand economic restrictive measures against the Russian Federation and should continue making joint efforts toincrease sanction pressure and international isolation of the violating State. The existence of loopholes in thesanction system, however, and the development of various techniques of sanction avoidance by the RussianFederation and private companies – especially involving third countries – have considerably reduced itseffectiveness. The Assembly believes that the international community should address this problem withresolve and without any further delay. The issue of Council of Europe member States helping the RussianFederation circumvent sanctions should be examined by the Assembly Committee on the Honouring ofObligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) in its work.In addition, helping the Russian Federation bypass sanctions should be a circumstance precluding futurecandidates to join the Council of Europe.

17. The Assembly condemns the biased and misleading narratives being spread by the RussianFederation, and amplified by some countries, about the war of aggression and the restrictive measuresintroduced against Putin’s regime. The Assembly considers that Council of Europe member States should beproactive in countering this pervasive misinformation and disinformation.

18. In light of the above considerations, as regards accountability, the Assembly:

18.1. welcoming that 45 States and the European Union have already joined or indicated theirintention to join the Enlarged Partial Agreement on the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggressionof the Russian Federation Against Ukraine, invites the largest possible number of countries to join;

18.2. calls on the countries represented in the Conference of Participants of the Register of Damageto clarify in the Register’s Rules on admissibility that the Register applies also to acts committed byprivate military groups, paramilitary groups and other military groups fighting for the RussianFederation, including the Wagner Group and Kadyrov’s forces;

18.3. calls on member States and other States having custody of the Russian Federation’s assets toestablish an international mechanism for compensation, making use of confiscated assets to pay forwar damages to Ukraine without delay;

18.4. calls on member States of the Core Group on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for thecrime of aggression against Ukraine to accelerate their negotiations to set up a Special internationalcriminal tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, and calls on additional States to join theCore Group;

18.5. welcomes the launch of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggressionagainst Ukraine;

18.6. invites parliaments of Council of Europe member States to designate the Wagner Group andKadyrov’s Guard as terrorist organisations and to call for the full accountability of all those military andparamilitary groups who participate in the Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine;

18.7. supports the investigation of the situation in Ukraine by the International Criminal Court and callson all States Parties to the Rome Statute to execute the arrest warrants issued by the Court; asks theCourt to issue arrest warrants against the members and leaders of the above mentioned Wagner andKadyrov Groups;

18.8. welcomes the adoption of the Ljubljana-The Hague Convention on International Cooperation inthe Investigation and Prosecution of the Crime of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes andother International Crimes and urges the Council of Europe member States to ratify it as soon aspossible to deliver justice to the victims of those crimes;

18.9. supports the call to enable supply of additional capabilities, including by means of re-export, forthe self-defence purposes of Ukraine.

Resolution 2506 (2023)

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