The United States of America has withdrawn from an international group tasked with gathering evidence of potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine, the director of the institution affiliated with this group announced on Thursday, as reported by AFP.
The International Center for Prosecuting Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) brings together investigators from several European countries and until recently from the US, under the auspices of the judicial body of the European Union, Eurojust.
“A few weeks ago, they (the US) announced their withdrawal (…) unfortunately, due to a change in priorities within their Department of Justice,” said Eurojust President Michael Schmid in front of the press.
“We obviously regret this, but at the same time, we will continue to work with the participants who remain part of the group,” added Schmid.
In January of this year, ICPA collected about 3,700 pieces of evidence from 16 countries, intended to be used in potential war crimes charges against Russians in the Ukrainian conflict.
The US has supported this group financially and provided it with evidence for its database. They granted one million dollars in November 2023.
Schmid estimated that under these circumstances, the financial cost will have to be covered by funds from the European Union and expressed hope that other contributing members will take over the responsibility of collecting evidence.