U.S. to Withdraw From Group Investigating Responsibility for Ukraine Invasion
The New York Times
The decision is the latest indication of the Trump administration’s move away from holding President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians.
The Justice Department has quietly informed European officials that the United States is withdrawing from a multinational group created to investigate leaders responsible for the invasion of Ukraine, including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, according to people familiar with the situation.
The decision to withdraw from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which the Biden administration joined in 2023, is the latest indication of the Trump administration’s move away from President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s commitment to holding Mr. Putin personally accountable for crimes committed against Ukrainians.
The group was created to hold the leadership of Russia, along with its allies in Belarus, North Korea and Iran, accountable for a category of crimes — defined as aggression under international law and treaties that violates another country’s sovereignty and is not initiated in self-defense.
The decision, the people familiar with the situation said, is expected to be announced on Monday in an email to the staff and membership of the group’s parent organization, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation, better known as Eurojust.
The United States was the only country outside Europe to cooperate with the group, sending a senior Justice Department prosecutor to The Hague to work with investigators from Ukraine, the Baltic States and Romania.
A department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday night.
