Europe & Central Asia

Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine has prompted discussion of how to hold top Kremlin officials accountable for this flagrant violation of international law. In this Q&A, Crisis Group examines the pros and cons of three main options that have been broached to date.

The following is adapted from a March 2023 report by Crisis Group’s President and CEO Comfort Ero to the organisation’s Trustees (before Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s 20-21 March visit to Moscow). She looks at the Ukraine war and its knock-on effects – from big-power polarisation to middle-power activism and disquiet outside the West about the conflict.

This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker and Elissa Jobson are joined by Bert Koenders, former Dutch minister of foreign affairs and current Crisis Group trustee, to discuss how the war in Ukraine has changed Europe and what the EU can do to adapt.

War & Peace is a podcast series from the International Crisis Group, in which Olga Oliker and Elissa Jobson interview experts about all things Europe and its neighbourhood, from Russia to Türkiye and beyond. Their guests shed new light on everything that helps or hinders prospects for peace. Episodes from past series of War & Peace can be found here: Season 1, Season 2 and Season 3.

In UN debates over Russia’s war in Ukraine, Western countries are still pledging to back Kyiv militarily, while non-Western states are more inclined to call for a negotiated peace. Thus far, however, the latter’s proposals for reaching that goal have been short on detail.

The United States and Europe get a few things wrong about global attitudes toward Russia’s war in Ukraine.

This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker and Elissa Jobson are joined by Richard Gowan, Crisis Group’s UN director, and Brian Finucane, Crisis Group’s senior adviser for the U.S., to talk about the prospects of a crime of aggression tribunal for Ukraine.

In this Twitter Space Crisis Group experts discuss the need and purpose of a tribunal on the crime of aggression for the war in Ukraine.

Numerous foreign nationals with ties to ISIS have come to Türkiye since the group’s defeat in Iraq and Syria. This population presents officials with complex questions, one of which is what threat individuals might still pose. The predicament calls for a multi-pronged strategy.