She told the public broadcaster LRT on Tuesday that she did not accept the idea that such an institution should only be “symbolic”.
“I’d say that the meaning is definitely not symbolic, we need an institution that would brand Putin a criminal, that would limit his possibilities to travel and place him in history as a leader that nonetheless was convicted of the crime of aggression,” Grigaite-Daugirde said.
The deputy minister stressed that the tribunal would have important legal implications, given that the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice were currently unable to assess the crime of aggression committed by Russian president Vladimir Putin and his allies as well as military leadership.
Grigaite-Daugirde also spoke about important political implications of the tribunal, in particular as an arrest warrant issued by the institution would send “a strong message to those countries that continue to support Putin or abstain during voting at the United Nations General Assembly”.
“Each time the leaders of those countries shake Putin’s hand, they would probably shake hands with a person who has an arrest warrant issued against him for the crime of aggression,” she noted.
Foreign ministers of the Baltic countries on Sunday called on the European Union (EU), together with international partners, to establish a Special Tribunal for the investigation of Russia’s crime of aggression against Ukraine, which would allow holding Russia’s political and military leadership to account.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that the tribunal could be established by EU member states whereas other countries of the world would have a possibility to join in at a later stage.
Lithuania has been calling on international community to establish a tribunal, which would allow holding Russian and Belarusian leadership to account, since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.