The Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives has voted in favour of a resolution calling on the US president to support the creation of a special tribunal for the punishment of the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

Presenting the text of House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Resolution 81 to members of the committee, one of its sponsors, Democratic Congressman Bill Keating, noted that it is one of the documents that is crucial for both domestic and international efforts to hold the Russian government accountable for human rights violations.

"I personally believe that a special international tribunal, created by a majority vote of the United Nations General Assembly, brings forth legitimacy in that regard and the authority to a tribunal," Voice Of America quotes Keating.

Michael McCaul, Republican Congressman and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that before the resolution was approved, members of Congress had the opportunity to hear Andrii Kostin, the prosecutor general of Ukraine, and see firsthand the Russian Federation's war crimes.

"So I think a special tribunal is appropriate," McCaul said.

In the resolution, the congressmen emphasise Russia's violation of articles of the UN Charter and emphasise that "the Russian Federation’s unprecedented full-scale invasion of Ukraine has reached a critical point requiring immediate and decisive action by the international community."

To quote the resolution, the "House of Representatives condemns in the strongest terms the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine; supports the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom, independence and democracy; underscores Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders; finds that there is significant evidence that individual leaders of the Russian Federation are culpable of committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine, and this requires proper adjudication by the international community; recognizes the need for the creation of a Special Tribunal in the on the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine; identifies the agreement between Ukraine and the UN following a favourable vote of the United Nations General Assembly as one of the options towards the creation of such an international tribunal; and urges the President to take all available measures to support the creation of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine."

The new PACE decisions in January for the first time gave details and outlines of a special tribunal for punishing the crime of aggression of the Russian Federation. This rather symbolic body was proposed to be created in the Hague.