Russian President Vladimir Putin is being prosecuted for war crimes and will face a tribunal in The Hague, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Bucharest on Thursday in a speech to the European People's Party Congress on the occasion of the vote for her nomination as the EPP candidate for a second term in office, UNN reports with reference to Digi24.
Putin is being prosecuted for war crimes and will be tried. A military tribunal awaits him
"Putin is responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny (the Kremlin's main opponent who died in prison - ed.) And it was incredible to see the courage of those who attended Navalny's funeral. One of the brave women who attended said that Navalny sacrificed himself to save the country, and Putin sacrificed the country to save himself," von der Leyen said.
She also emphasized that "Europe will support Ukraine as long as it takes." "There is no more pressing issue than Ukraine. I was in Bucha after the liberation of the city, I will never forget the body bags. Innocent civilians, young and old, killed by Putin's soldiers. I will not forget the desperate parents whose children were abducted by Russia. As a mother and a grandmother, my heart bleeds when I hear these stories," von der Leyen said in her speech at the EPP Congress in Bucharest.
The President of the European Commission also said that Russia "destroyed homes, hospitals and kindergartens, but could not destroy the dream (...) of a free and prosperous Ukraine in the heart of the EU." "Even today, friends, this dream lives on. In the Republic of Moldova, in Georgia, and in the Western Balkans. And together they will make this dream come true. This is what the EPP and Europe believe in," she added.
Addendum
Last year, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Kareem Khan statedthat there are reasonable grounds to believe that Vladimir Putin and the country's Children's Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova are responsible for the forced deportation of hundreds of Ukrainian children.