‘Deranged’ Putin must face justice for his war crimes
LAST WEEK, the House of Commons sat in silence to listen to the words of a man uniting his country to confront the first invasion of a European state since the Second World War. It was a historic moment. President Zelensky became the first foreign leader to address the chamber of the House of Commons. Dressed in army fatigues and broadcasting from Kyiv, where he remains despite more than a dozen assassination attempts, his words were a powerful lesson in leadership.
That is courage and integrity. It has now been over two weeks since Putin’s army unleashed a wave of airstrikes and missiles as he declared war on Ukraine.
Thousands of innocent Ukrainians have been murdered at the hands of Russian forces: children in kindergartens; pregnant mothers at maternity hospitals; families fleeing along supposedly safe humanitarian corridors.
And it’s not over. As you read this, shells are raining down on homes and hospitals. New cities are being encircled. The list of Putin’s war crimes is stacking up.
One man’s deranged ego is fuelling the suffering of millions. Putin is following a playbook which his armed forces have already brutally trialled in Syria. Russian forces surround cities and shell them for weeks, indiscriminately targeting civilians. Tactics of extreme violence gradually grind down morale.
The Russian state has started sowing lies about chemical weapons. Lies, lies and more lies are part of the Russian campaign.
It’s all meant to muddy the waters – to try to sow doubt.
But we know what’s real. We’ve seen the footage of bombed-out cities, the mass graves in Mariupol, the Ukrainians sharing stories of their families and children killed in Russian attacks.
What more can we do to bring an end to this horror? Has the UK done everything in its power? We’ve seen thewest show unity. Russia has been roundly condemned at the UN and finally we’ve seen the assets of Abramovich
and his ilk frozen. The UK has now sanctioned 400 members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
That directly targets the oligarchs and politicians propping up Putin’s regime.these are serious measures in response to serious crimes.
Sanctioned oligarchs can no longer conduct financial transactions with individuals in the UK.
Of course, sanctions have a cost here too. Sanctioning Abramovich has left Chelsea in limbo.the price of energy and commodities are ticking up everywhere.
We were already feeling the effect of inflation at home – now petrol prices are up more than £1.60.The price of bread could rise by 50 per cent. This is the price Putin is making us all pay for war.
For sanctions to have any effect we will need to go further.
There are still hundreds of the Russian elite, free to jet in and spend their stolen cash in London.
Should the children of corrupt Russian politicians be able to buy £4million flats in Kensington?
Should they get the opportunity to attend Britain’s best schools and universities? Freedom and prosperity in Britain is a hard-won privilege, not a right for the families of war criminals.
And the Russian state doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It lives off a network of enablers. Former prime ministers of European nations sat
on the boards of Russian stateowned companies. Russian disinformation is pumped out through thewest’s social media platforms.
British lawyers working for oligarchs file multi-million pound lawsuits against journalists exposing the truth about the Kremlin.
All need to take responsibility.
THEIR actions have facilitated a regime which is now waging war against innocent civilians who are trying to flee – 2.5 million people have already left Ukraine. Two million have been displaced inside the country. Many millions more are trying to escape. They face long, arduous journeys, often by foot in the icy cold.
We all have a duty to welcome our fair share of the refugees. We need to urgently speed up the process for Ukrainians to join their families here in Britain.
And for the man responsible for this suffering, he must face the cost of his actions. Just like Nuremberg in 1946, the international community will need to come together to hold a special tribunal to prosecute Putin for crimes of aggression.
Putin and his band of thieves must be brought to justice.
“There are still hundreds of the Russian elite free to jet in and spend their stolen cash in London