Executive Summary
Russian forces in Ukraine left a documented pattern of mass killings (Bucha, around 458 bodies, April 2022), mass graves (Izium, 440-plus bodies, September 2022), filtration sites, and forced transfer of Ukrainian children. By November 2025 Ukraine's Prosecutor General had registered over 190,000 war-crime cases. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023 under Rome Statute Article 7. Lithuania co-founded the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Ukraine through Eurojust on 25 March 2022, but at home relies on the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre (LGGRTC); no standing unit is trained for rapid atrocity-crime work. Without trained teams on scene in the first three days, most evidence is lost. The recommended next step is a feasibility study by the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General, with Eurojust and ICC input, examining training (Berkeley Protocol, 2020), mobile-team structure, secure storage, and JIT integration. Final form is for Lithuania.
The Problem
Russian conduct in Ukraine since 2022 follows a documented pattern: mass civilian killings (Bucha, around 458 bodies, April 2022), mass graves (Izium, 440-plus bodies, September 2022), strikes on a railway station crowded with evacuees (Kramatorsk, April 2022), strikes on a sheltering theatre (Mariupol Drama Theatre, March 2022), filtration camps, and the forced transfer of Ukrainian children. The ICC arrest warrants of March 2023 against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova rest on the deportation pattern. A comparable occupation pattern is the working assumption for any Russian incursion into the Baltic states.
Lithuania ratified the Rome Statute in 2003 and co-founded the Ukraine JIT in 2022, but domestic capacity for rapid atrocity-crime documentation is thin. The Public Prosecutor's Office has a department covering genocide and war crimes; the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre (LGGRTC) holds historical mandate. Neither maintains standing mobile teams trained to ICC standards, rapid DNA processing, or Berkeley-Protocol-trained digital-evidence specialists. Without trained teams on scene within roughly 72 hours, most evidence degrades or disappears.
Without action: Crimes committed on Lithuanian soil during a future conflict go unprosecuted; chain of custody fails ICC admissibility tests under Rome Statute Article 69; Russian disinformation fills the evidentiary vacuum; deterrence weakens because perpetrators see no credible documentation threat.
Lithuanian Context
Lithuania's small territory (roughly 65,300 square kilometres) means mobile teams could reach any incident location within hours, but the existing institutional split between the Prosecutor General's office and the LGGRTC, and the relationship to the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of National Defence, are Lithuanian determinations. A study should examine whether to expand existing structures or stand up a dedicated unit, and how to plug into the JIT, ICC, and Eurojust frameworks Lithuania already participates in.