Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa.
Here are the three things to take away from today’s Europe Live blog:
Controversial British-American influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have left Romania this morning on a private flight to the US, after securing a permission to leave the country (9:11). The Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism said that “the two defendants of dual British-American citizenship” have been allowed to travel, but have to report when summoned and any violation of this condition could lead to stricter restrictions on their movement (9:38). The UK is also seeking the brothers’ extradition after Bedfordshire police were granted a warrant as part of an investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking.
Austria is on the verge of getting a new government, after the conservative People’s Party (OVP) and Social Democrats (SPÖ) have just agreed to form a three-way coalition with the liberal Neos – The New Austria and Liberal Forum party (9:25). Migration, economy, and tackling bureaucracy are among the new administration’s key priorities (11:36), as the three parties teamed up to work without the far-right Freedom party which one last year’s elections (15:40).
Russian president Vladimir Putin has told the FSB security service on Thursday that initial contacts with the administration of US president Donald Trump gave grounds for hope that the relationship between the two countries could soon get better. His comments come on the day as US and Russian officials met in Turkey to discuss reinstating diplomatic presence in each other’s countries (13:37).
If you are interested in arguably the main event of the day, UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s meeting with US president Donald Trump, you can follow our minute-by-minute coverage on our UK politics blog here:
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Nuremberg-type court to bring Putin to justice for Ukraine nearly finalised
in Dublin
A legal template to establish a new Nuremberg type court to bring Vladimir Putin and others suspected of being involved in the planning and execution of the alleged crimes of aggression in Ukraine to justice has been finalised, the Council of Europe has revealed.
Legal texts underpinning a new tribunal are expected to be signed off at a summit in Strasbourg at the end of March, the culmination of work over 14 meetings of representatives of 40 countries in the Council including all EU states bar Hungary.
At the same time the CoE is working on a separate path for justice for hundreds of thousands of victims of the war of aggression likely to be called the Claims Commission.
CoE director Jörg Polakiewicz told a conference in Dublin the tribunal was a significant step which would build on the Nuremberg charter which allowed the Nazi leadership to be tried after the second world war.
Ad hoc tribunals have been set up in past to deal with war crimes under the aegis of the UN’s security council but this was not an option in relation to Ukraine because of Russia’s veto at the UN.
“It would be the continuation, would build on the Nuremberg precedent. And I think this is also why this tribunal is so important, and Ukraine is also so much arguing for it, because when you see in Russia the importance of Nuremberg.
“They were the victors then, and to have the trial of the Nazi leadership for the Russian leadership was immensely important, and now to see that their own leadership will be tried in an international tribunal, I think this is also the very important symbolic measure,” Polakiewicz told a conference at Dublin City University on the role the Council of Europe will play in pursuit of peace, justice and accountability in Ukraine.
A meeting will be held next week, the 14th of its kind, to review the final text with representatives of the 40 core states involved in the tribunal’s genesis meeting in person to sign off the text on 19 March.
It will then have to be adopted by each state with the text of a bilateral treaty to follow, possibly in May, with Kyiv, said the experts.
If the tribunal were agreed, it would absorb the work of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA) set up in the Hague two years ago in collaboration with the European Commission, Ukraine and the US, said Polakiewicz.
Updated
