Reykjavik (AFP) - A year after kicking Russia out of the Council of Europe (CoE) over its war in Ukraine, the leaders of the 46-nation pan-continental rights body gathered on Tuesday in Iceland to take an initial step towards a future prosecution of Russian leaders.
The main thrust of the summit -- only the fourth in the CoE's seven-decade history -- was to create a "register of damages" which would record evidence to be used in a special court that Ukraine and several of its Western allies want to see created.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was to address the leaders by videolink, organisers said.
The day before, Zelensky had wrapped up a whirlwind tour of major European capitals with Berlin, Paris and London all pledging to step up arms deliveries to Kyiv.
The promises, which deepen a military arrangement between the West and wartime Ukraine, came ahead of an expected Ukrainian offensive against Russian forces in coming weeks.
The Council of Europe's mission is to promote human rights, democracy and rule of law in its member states, which include all 27 European Union nations plus Britain, Turkey, Western Balkan countries, Georgia and Armenia.
Russia was kicked out of the CoE in March 2022, because of its invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said as he arrived to represent his country that the creation of a registry of damages was "the first real step on our path to find solutions" to make Russia "compensate all these atrocities and damages".
He said he hoped ultimately to see "Russian crimes on a political level and militarily will be punished".
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said that in the Reykjavik summit "a big topic will be the accountability of Russia for the crime of aggression it is constantly committing by waging war in Ukraine".
The United States -- represented at the summit in an observer role -- said it too supported creation of such a register, as did Britain and other countries.
"I hope very much that more countries will join this club," said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.
Russia isolated
Several EU countries are in favour of setting up a special tribunal, likely in The Hague in the Netherlands where the International Criminal Court already sits.
That prospect, though, is pushed off to after what looks like a long and grinding war.
Russia is perhaps preparing its own spring attack on Ukrainian positions to try to break a battlefield stalemate.
The two-day Council of Europe summit will be an opportunity for almost the entire European community to portray Russia as isolated on its own continent.
Emmanuel Macron of France, Rishi Sunak of Britain and Olaf Scholz of Germany are among the heads of state and government set to attend.
But for all the projected unity there are fissures in the European community.
Britain, for instance, is antagonistic towards the CoE's European Convention of Human Rights, which is a barrier to its plans to stem the irregular arrival of asylum-seekers by deporting them to Rwanda or returning them to transit European countries.
The convention is backed by a European Court of Human Rights which has made rulings that have already stymied Britain's efforts in that direction.
Sunak said as he arrived that he was pressing for a reform of that court as part of a strategy to stop small boats carrying refugees reaching Britain after transiting through France.
"We're going to do absolutely everything we can to do that...I'm not going to rest until we can stop the boats and that's why I'm here," Sunak said.
The leaders' gathering is also a key moment for the heads of European heavyweights Germany, France, Italy and Britain to meet before a G7 summit starting Friday in Japan.
