EU proposes special court to 'try Russia's crimes'

ISTANBUL

The European Commission will work with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to "help set up a specialized court to try Russia's crimes," the president of EU's executive body said Wednesday.

"Russia must pay for its horrific crimes, including for its crime of aggression against a sovereign state. And this is why while continuing to support the International Criminal Court we are proposing to set up a specialized court, backed by the United Nations, to investigate and prosecute Russia's crime of aggression," Ursula von der Leyen said in a video message that she shared on Twitter.

Russia also must pay the price financially for the devastation that it causes, von der Leyen said, adding that the damage suffered by Ukraine is estimated at €600 billion ($621.8 billion).

"Russia and its oligarchs have to compensate Ukraine for the damage and cover the costs for rebuilding the country," she added.

Von der Leyen said the bloc has already blocked €300 billion of the Russian Central Bank reserves and has frozen €19 billion of Russian oligarchs' money.

"In the short term, we could create, with our partners, a structure to manage these funds and invest them," she said, adding that once the sanctions against Russia was lifted, these funds should be used as full compensation to Ukraine.

"We will work on an international agreement with our partners to make this possible," she said.