More than 40 countries are currently working on the creation of a special tribunal to hold Russia accountable for aggression against Ukraine, said Borys Tarasiuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 1998-2000 and 2005-2007.

"The Council of Europe was the first to discuss the issues of punishing Russia as an aggressor for crimes. Both for compensation for damages and for the special tribunal. As for punishment and compensation for losses, the Council of Europe has demonstrated an unprecedented pace of resolving the issue, if it is passed," Tarasiuk said during the 16th annual Kyiv Security Forum (KSF), founded by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation.

According to him, there were doubts among the permanent representatives of the member countries in the Council of Europe as to whether the Council could be the international organization where the register of losses would be developed, but this issue was resolved at the summit of the organization.

"I am proud that we have managed to take this important step - to create a register of losses, which will begin its work on April 2 this year. This is only the first step. This step should be followed by two other steps, namely the creation of a compensation commission and the creation of a compensation fund," the diplomat said.

As for the special tribunal, he said that a coalition of States, numbering more than 40 countries, is currently working, which informally meet and discuss fundamental issues regarding the principles of the creation of the special tribunal.

"And there turned out to be much more problems here than the issue of the compensation mechanism. But now there is a discussion going on these days, in which, I am sure, they will come to the conclusion that the Council of Europe is asking to be a diplomatic platform to resolve the issue of a special tribunal," the ambassador stressed.

He added that today the Council of Europe has united all, and these are 46 countries, around the idea of how to ensure the responsibility of the aggressor. And by compensating for the damage caused, and by punishing the crime of aggression of the Russian political and military leadership.

The 16th annual Kyiv Security Forum, organized to mobilize transatlantic support for Ukraine, is taking place on March 21-22.