West reluctant to put Putin on trial, say Ukrainian officials

Country is seeking an international tribunal but fears its allies are still focused on future relations with Russia

Russia-Ukraine war: latest news

Ukraine's major western allies have yet to sign up to establish a tribunal to try Vladimir Putin and his inner circle for the crime of aggression, wanting to leave space for future relations with Russia, according to Ukraine's top officials.

It's big politics. On the one hand, countries publicly condemn the aggression but on the other, they are putting their foot in the closing door on relations with Russia so that it doesn't close completely," said Andriy Smyrnov, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, who is leading the country's effort to establish the international tribunal.

They are attempting to keep some space for diplomatic manoeuvres," said Smyrnov. We know that agreements with Russia are not worth the paper they are written on."

His claims come as the US president, Joe Biden, said on Monday that Russia should not be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, something Ukrainian officials and some US politicians had pushed for. Russia had previously said such a designation would mean Washington had crossed the point of no return.

Ukrainian officials say that since April, they have been trying to convince their western allies to establish an ad hoc tribunal which would hold Russia's senior leadership responsible for the crime of aggression for invading Ukraine. Aggression is viewed as the supreme crime under international law because without the transgression of borders during an invasion, subsequent war crimes would not have been committed.