Council of Europe presses ex-member Russia for accountability

Europe's leading human rights organization moved to create an international "register of damage" caused by Russia as a first step toward compensating the victims of its war against Ukraine.

The Council of Europe – and three non-member countries, Canada, Japan and the United States, which each have "observer" status before the 46-nation organization – agreed on Wednesday to set up the register to collect evidence and claims since the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion.

"Intended as a first component of a future compensation mechanism, the register will serve as a record of evidence and claims information on damage, loss or injury," the council said, adding that "all affected natural and legal persons" and Ukraine could be compensated.

Leaders at an unusual two-day summit also made progress "towards the establishment of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression and offered the Council of Europe’s support to the process," it said, demanding that Russia withdraw from Ukraine and comply with all of its international obligations.

'The first real step'

Since its creation in 1949 to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the post-World War II era, the council has only held three previous summits.

It's an indication of how transformative Russia's war in Ukraine is on the continent – and the significant threats posed to members of the 74-year-old international organization – that it prompted a fourth summit among the council's heads of state and government officials starting on Tuesday Iceland's capital of Reykjavik. The summit capped Iceland's yearlong council presidency, which ends this month.

Over the course of the summit, which was livestreamed, the council focused on former council member Russia, which was expelled from its ranks last year just a month after Moscow launched a full-scaled invasion on Ukraine.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told reporters upon entering the summit that the council would be making "the real first step on how to compensate for all these damages."

Russia, which had been a member of the Strasbourg, France-based council for 26 years, has denounced the legally binding European Convention on Human Rights that the council drafted in 1950, three years before it entered into force. The convention established the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

A local and regional focus

Also invited to summit were leaders from the European Union, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and United Nations, and representatives from the council's five observers: Canada, Japan, Mexico, the U.S. and the Vatican.

"The Russian Federation is writing a bloody page in European history, waging a barbaric war of aggression to achieve its imperialistic objectives," said Irish Senator Fiona O'Loughlin. "It is exactly because our deepest values are being trampled upon that we must reaffirm our identity."

European leaders had vowed to use the summit as a platform to demonstrate firm support for local and regional authorities – particularly those in Ukraine – who often are the first to respond to national and international crises, such as Russia's invasion of its neighbor.

“We are confident that the heads of state and government will seize the opportunity to express a strong, renewed commitment to grassroots democracy within a system of strong multi-level governance," said Dutch politician Leen Verbeek, president of the council's congress of local and regional authorities.

As an example, Bjørn Berge, the council's deputy secretary general, praised “the extraordinary way in which local mayors, leaders and administrators in Ukraine have stood up against Russian intimidation, often at real risk to their own safety."

This story has been updated with additional details.