US Withdraws from Russia Crimes in Ukraine Prosecution Team, NYT
Date: 2025-03-17 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WORLD
The US Justice Department has secretly informed European officials that the country is withdrawing from a multinational task force created to investigate those responsible for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The New York Times (NYT) reported this, citing sources familiar with the situation. "The decision to withdraw from the international task force for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which the US joined in 2023, is the latest sign that the Trump administration is backing away from President Biden's commitment to hold Putin personally accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians," the newspaper stated.
The group was created to hold the Russian government, as well as its allies in Belarus, North Korea and Iran, accountable for crimes defined as aggression under international law that violates the sovereignty of another country and is not initiated in self-defense.
According to people familiar with the matter, the decision will be announced in an email to Eurojust staff and members on Monday.
The United States was the only country outside Europe to cooperate with the group, sending a senior Justice Department prosecutor to The Hague to work with investigators from Ukraine, the Baltic states and Romania.
The Trump administration has not given any reason for leaving the investigative group.
In addition, Trump is scaling back the work done by the War Crimes Accountability Group, a team created in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and staffed with seasoned prosecutors. It coordinated the Justice Department’s efforts to hold Russians accountable for atrocities committed in Ukraine.
