“I don’t think history will judge kindly any effort to wipe the slate clean for Russian crimes in Ukraine,” McGrath said.
“They must be held accountable for those crimes and that will be the approach of the European Union in all of these discussions.
“Were we to do so, to allow for impunity for those crimes, we would be sowing the seeds of the next round of aggression and the next invasion,” he added.
There has been international condemnation of Russia for alleged crimes including the abduction of 20,000 Ukrainian children and attacks targeting civilians.
Ukrainian authorities say they have opened investigations into more than 178,000 alleged Russian crimes since the start of the war.
Last month, a United Nations commission found Russian authorities had committed crimes against humanity in targeting Ukrainian residents through drone attacks, and the war crimes of forcible transfer and deportation of civilians.
“We cannot give up on the rights of the victims of Russian aggression and Russian crimes,” McGrath said. »