Oleksandra Matviichuk warns any amnesty could encourage authoritarian leaders to attack their neighbours
Any peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine that includes an amnesty for war crimes could encourage other authoritarian leaders to attack their neighbours, Ukraine’s only Nobel peace prize winner has warned.
Oleksandra Matviichuk said the leaked 28-point US-Russia plan did not account for “the human dimension” and she supported President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s efforts to rewrite it in dialogue with White House.
“We need a peace, but not a pause that provides Russia a chance to retreat and regroup,” the Kyiv-based human rights lawyer said. A durable settlement must include Nato-like guarantees for Ukraine, she added.
Matviichuk is the head of the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties, which was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2022, and she has been influential in arguing that Russia has developed a “genocidal character” because the international community has not restrained it enough.
