Will Khrenin Remain Lukashenko’s Eternal Minister of Defense?
- May 6
- 3 min read
On May 9, a meeting is scheduled to take place in Lviv, during which a political decision is expected on the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine and the approval of its statute.
Preliminarily, it is planned that on May 14, during the session of the Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Council of Europe in Luxembourg, the formal legal procedure for the establishment of the Special Tribunal will be initiated. This Special Tribunal will handle the criminal prosecution of individuals responsible for committing the crime of aggression.
The National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) has been working continuously to ensure that the jurisdiction of this tribunal includes accountability for officials of the Lukashenko regime who facilitated the aggression by providing Belarusian territory.
According to international law and UN General Assembly Resolution 3314, the provision of a country’s territory for aggression constitutes an act of aggression.
There is substantial legal basis to argue that Belarus, as a state, committed an act of aggression, and that its top military-political leadership committed the crime of aggression.
This international tribunal will be created through the signing of an international agreement between the government of Ukraine and the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe, as an international organization, will provide comprehensive support for the Tribunal’s functioning.
As a member of the Coordination Council delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), I initiated the inclusion of a provision on the responsibility of Lukashenko and his accomplices for committing the crime of aggression — by providing Belarusian territory — in a PACE resolution on accountability for aggression against Ukraine. This amendment was introduced and adopted during the PACE session in April 2025.
The Special Tribunal will operate under Ukrainian national legislation. This means the tribunal will be bound to recognize the immunities of individuals who possess them. Only three persons are entitled to absolute personal immunity under international law: in the Belarusian context, this includes the usurper Lukashenko, Prime Minister Golovchenko (at the time of the aggression), and Foreign Minister Makei, who will not be subject to prosecution due to his death.
All other senior officials of the Belarusian military-political leadership held only functional immunity, which expires once they leave office. For example, if Defense Minister Khrenin ceases to serve in this role and is not appointed Prime Minister or Foreign Minister, his functional immunity would no longer apply.
According to our preliminary assessment, Defense Minister Khrenin and former Chairman of the State Border Committee Lapo will be among those subject to prosecution by the Special Tribunal.
We also believe that the involvement of all members of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus and the General Staff of the Belarusian Armed Forces at the time of the aggression should be examined, as well as the head of Belarusian Railways. There may also be grounds to examine the accountability of regional executive committee heads (oblast leaders) who provided infrastructure and other assistance for the aggression.
Although the investigation and prosecution of the crime of aggression will be a lengthy process, the establishment of the Special Tribunal is a clear signal to Lukashenko’s entourage: carrying out his criminal orders — which violate both the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus and international law — will not go unpunished.
Our next task, together with our international partners, will be to collect, consolidate, and present evidence of the crime of aggression committed by Belarus’s top military and political leadership.
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