Gordon Brown has called for Vladimir Putin to face a Nuremberg-style war crimes tribunal.
The former Labour Prime Minister said the Russian president should be held to account for atrocities committed as his forces invade Ukraine.
Brown’s plan is to set up a new international tribunal modelled on the nations which met in London during the Second World War to draft a resolution on Nazi war crimes.
He said: “It was here in the UK, during that war, that a group of governments published a statement entitled Punishment for War Crimes, which stated that, ‘War crimes should not be left unpunished’.
“It was this statement that led to the International Military Tribunal which paved the way for the trials at Nuremberg.”
“A Tribunal was necessary, they said then, ‘to satisfy the sense of justice of the civilized world’. That is as true now as in 1942.”
Speaking alongside Ukrainian foreign minister Dmyto Kuelba at a virtual event organised by the think-tank Chatham House, Brown said Putin has posed a “fateful challenge” to the post-1945 international order.
Brown said: He has sought to replace the rule of law with a misuse of force.”
“If we were to acquiesce in any way, none of us could ever take freedom or democracy for granted ever again.
“For all these reasons, and because of the scale of the suffering of the people of Ukraine, I believe that most people would agree that this act of aggression cannot go un-investigated, unprosecuted or unpunished.”
The move came after international condemnation of Vladimir Putin when Russian troops carried out a shelling of a nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine overnight.
Deputy PM Dominic Raab described the attack as “an affront to the world stage at large” and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace accused Russia of “playing with fire”.
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