The U.S. is leaving a multinational group that investigates russia’s crimes during its invasion of Ukraine, including the actions of the kremlin leader vladimir putin. Ukrainska Pravda reports this, citing The New York Times.
This concerns the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), which was created to hold russia’s leadership, as well as its allies in Belarus, North Korea, and Iran, accountable for aggression that violates another country’s sovereignty and was not initiated in self-defense.
According to NYT sources familiar with the situation, the U.S. Department of Justice has already informed European officials about the U.S. withdrawal from this group.
The decision is expected to be announced on March 17 in an email sent to staff and members of the group’s parent organization, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation.
The administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden joined the ICPA in 2023. The U.S. was the only country outside of Europe cooperating with the group.
Additionally, according to NYT, the Trump administration is also scaling back the work of the War Crimes Investigation Group, which was established in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and staffed with experienced prosecutors.
This group was intended to coordinate the U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to hold russians accountable for atrocities committed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In November 2023, the Biden administration allocated $1 million to support the International Center for the Investigation of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.