The first step in the fight against impunity for crimes committed in Russia's aggression against Ukraine could be the establishment of a prosecutor's office to collect evidence, said European Commission Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders.

He made the statement before the start of an informal meeting of justice ministers in Stockholm, where one of the main topics is how to ensure that war crimes in Ukraine do not go unpunished.

The office would be located in The Hague, at the headquarters of the EU Agency for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters.

Reinders says the office can open quickly. The European Union is advocating for the establishment of a special court for Russian crimes in Ukraine, and in anticipation of gathering a critical mass of support in the international community, it wants to begin gathering evidence.

At the end of November last year, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed the establishment of a specialized court with the support of the United Nations, which will judge Russian crimes. "Russia must pay for its terrible crimes, including aggression against a sovereign state," von der Leyen said.

There are two options on the table – one is the establishment of an ad hoc international court, like the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the other is the so-called hybrid option, where a national court, most likely Ukrainian, but with international judges, would try crimes of Russian aggression. .