The United States will withdraw from an international group investigating the alleged war crimes in Russia in Ukraine – including those committed by President Vladimir Putin, according to a message sent to European allies on Monday.
The Ministry of Justice said that the United States is no longer part of the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), which was joined by the Biden administration in 2023 as part of America's commitment to Putin's official in charge of the invasion of 2022.
“The American authorities told me that they would conclude their participation in ICPA,” Michael Schmid, head of the mother organization, said in a message obtained by the New York Times.
The United States was the only nation outside Europe that sent a public prosecutor to The Hague to work in the investigation of the contract of leaders in Russia, Plasia, North Korea and Iran responsible for the continuous invasion.
The Ministry of Justice did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the decision to withdraw from the investigation, which comes at a time when President Trump is trying to reform America's relationship with Russia.
Sources told the Times newspaper that the administration claimed that the decision was taken regarding the need to republish resources as part of the Trump government reform.
Besides the exit from ICPA, the Trump administration also underestimates the work of the war crimes confrontation team in the Ministry of Justice, which was coordinating efforts to hold the Russians accountable for the crimes committed during the war.
“There is no place to hide for war criminals,” the lawyer, General Merik Garland, was established when Warcat was created in 2022.
The group was assigned to provide prosecutors in Ukraine and law enforcement with the necessary assistance and training to bring the war crimes committed by Russia to the court.
The team has significantly conducted a case against four Russian soldiers accused of American torture arrested during the Kremlin attack on the Keresson region in 2023.
Despite America's withdrawal, ICPA said the group is still “completely committed to” retaining “officials responsible” in Ukraine.
The group consists of prosecutors from Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.
