2. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government regarding any assistance it can provide to the International Criminal Court investigation into suspected war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine? OQ57802

Thank you for the question. I welcome the investigation by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and I'm heartened that 40 states have now referred the matter to the court for consideration. The Welsh Government stands in solidarity with Ukraine and its people, and will continue to support and assist in any way that it can.

Thank you very much for that response, Minister. I know that Members on all sides of the Chamber have already expressed their solidarity with the people of Ukraine and will continue to reach out to people in Ukraine to express that support and solidarity throughout the coming weeks and months. And I know that Members also on all sides of this Chamber will reach out to you, Counsel General, in the way that you've spoken and the impact that that's had on you and your family.

We all want to see an end to this appalling war, and we all want to see those who are responsible for perpetrating criminal activities and war crimes held to account for that. The Welsh Government, I hope, will support the United Kingdom Government in doing so, and I hope, Minister, that you can assure us this afternoon that the Welsh Government will work alongside the UK Government to ensure that we create an international coalition of people across the world to ensure that Putin is not only defeated in Ukraine, but that when he is defeated, he and his Government are held to account for the crimes they are committing today.

Thank you for those comments. Of course, the issue of human rights, of acts of aggression, of war crimes and of, in fact, genocide are matters that actually transcend party political differences, particularly when we see them occurring on 24-hour news, live, in front of our own eyes, in a way that probably has never happened before. What I can say to Members is this: on 1 March 2022, a number of party states, including the UK, referred the matter to the International Criminal Court, and, as I've said, that's increased to 40 now.

On 2 March, the prosecutor announced that he had opened his investigation, and the scope of the investigation encompasses past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person from 21 November 2013 onwards.

And then, separately, on 7 March 2022, there was a hearing at the International Court of Justice in respect of allegations of genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. This related to proceedings that were brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation decided not to participate.

We will of course be undoubtedly receiving numbers of Ukrainian refugees in due course. Some of them may be witnesses to war crimes and acts of genocide and it may be that one of the things that we could do is to actually explore the extent to which it is possible for that evidence to be secured for part of the international criminal investigation.