BRUSSELS, November 11. /TASS/. The European Union and the Council of Europe are facing a lack of resources to organize, at Kiev’s request, a "tribunal against Russia," as the United States refuse to continue financing Ukraine, Euronews TV channel reports.
The Council of Europe has estimated that the project would require about €75 million per year, not including rental and security costs. The EU itself would need to contribute €10 million annually to the project, the channel adds.
France, Germany, Italy, and the UK remain the main sponsors of the Council of Europe. It is unclear whether they are willing to fund the tribunal project. A Council of Europe representative told Euronews that negotiations with member states are ongoing but declined to provide further details. The channel has not yet received any clarifications from Washington regarding the US role in the initiative. European sponsors fear that financing the tribunal could become increasingly challenging as the US continues to distance itself from international organizations.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would no longer allocate funds for Ukraine.
At the beginning of the year, the European Commission reported that the EU, the Council of Europe and Kiev laid the legal groundwork for a special tribunal on alleged "Russian crimes" in Ukraine. Commenting on the decision, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that these international structures and the so-called experts "deliberately adopt an entirely one-sided, unconstructive stance and are not ready to look at reality." He reminded that the same experts "remained silent since 2014, when the Kiev regime sent tanks" against their own citizens who did not accept the change of power in the country. The Russian Federation Council also stressed that the tribunal project pushes the Kiev regime toward further escalation of the conflict.