Foreign Affairs Council: EU to provide financial and personnel support to Ukrainian and International Criminal Court prosecutors

The EU will support the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor and the Ukrainian prosecutor financially and with staff on the ground, EU Foreign Ministers meeting on 11 April have decided. 

Discussing the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, ministers highlighted the importance of accountability for the gross violations of international law by Russia and said the EU advisory mission would now be deployed on the ground to cooperate in the investigation and collection of evidence.

“Russian aggression against Ukraine can be qualified in two words. The first is failure. It’s a big failure of the Russian army. The second is horror. What the Russian army left behind is civilians killed, cities destroyed, indiscriminate bombing. The coming Russian offensive in the east makes us even more determined to continue supporting Ukraine,” said EU High Representative Josep Borrell.

He also said the EU was ready to continue supporting Ukraine on the military side, including with funding from the European Peace Facility: “We are very worried by the human consequences of this war. Mariupol is a martyr city, but what is going to happen on the Eastern front makes us much more ready to continue supporting Ukraine to face this battle.” 

The ministers also discussed how better to implement sanctions imposed on Russia to avoid any kind of loopholes. According to Borrell, the EU will continue to identify what else can be done: “Nothing is off the table, including sanctions on oil and gas”.

“It is important to make the difference between oil and gas. Last year, in 2021, the bill for oil import was four times bigger than the bill for gas. We are talking about €80 billion on one side, and €20 billion on the other side. It is important to start with the oil, which is a heavy bill and easier to replace,” said Borrell, adding that Norway plays an important role in contributing to the EU’s energy security, advancing on the energy transition and supplying more gas that can help substitute Russian gas.

Borrell also noted that Russia has launched a new disinformation narrative – “food diplomacy” – blaming the EU sanctions for food shortages and rising prices.

“Stop blaming the sanctions, it is the Russian military that is causing food scarcity,” said Borrell. “It is Russia sowing bombs on Ukraine’s fields and Russian warships blocking tens of ships full of wheat that cannot go out of Ukrainian harbours. They are bombing and destroying stocks of wheat and preventing this wheat from being exported. They are provoking hunger in the world.”

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Press release

Remarks by Josep Borrell at the press conference