Russian President Vladimir Putin may go to prison for war crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine.
It is a “very real risk” that Russian president Vladimir Putin could end up in prison for war crimes committed by his troops in Ukraine, Dominic Raab has said.
The deputy PM, asked by Times Radio if that was really how he saw the conflict ending, added: Every commander operating in Ukraine, or indeed Moscow … must now know that they face the very real risk of ending up in the dock of a court and, ultimately, in a prison if they follow through on those illegal, unlawful orders.
An investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently underway, with officials reportedly already in Ukraine probing whether war crimes have been carried out there.
As “Apostrophe” reported, earlier investigators from the International Criminal Court set off on Thursday to start looking into possible war crimes in Ukraine, the tribunal's top prosecutor said in an interview.
Karim Khan told Reuters his office would see if there was evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide - the offences under the court's jurisdiction - by all parties in the conflict.
Asked about reports of artillery strikes in Ukraine's towns and cities, Khan said, "Any side that targets, directly targets, civilians or civilian objects is committing a crime under the Rome Statute and under international humanitarian law," referring to the statue that created the court.