Putin's cabal must be brought to trial for crimes in Ukraine. With this plan, the world can do that | Gordon Brown

A decision to prosecute Russia’s leadership for the crime of aggression is described as historic and hopeful amid global instability. A special tribunal is presented as both a practical mechanism and a clear statement that those guilty of war atrocities and civilian destruction will not be able to hide. The tribunal is expected to target individuals in the president’s inner circle, including generals, bureaucrats, and functionaries who planned aggression in Ukraine. Justice is framed as delayed but no longer denied after the invasion. The prosecution is linked to responsibility for deaths of Ukrainian soldiers, civilian killings and maiming, and widespread destruction of schools, hospitals, and civic infrastructure. The tribunal is also said to be able to proceed against suspects while in office or in absentia.

"The decision to prosecute Putin's cabal for the crime of aggression, reached this month after an agreement between the Council of Europe and the European Union, is historic and offers hope in an age of chaos and fracture. This special tribunal is a mechanism of practical intent but, more than that, it is a statement: that there will never again be any hiding place for those guilty of war atrocities and the needless destruction of civilian life."

"It will target those in the president's inner circle the generals, bureaucrats and functionaries who have planned Russian aggression in Ukraine. Justice might have been delayed for the four years since Ukraine was invaded, but it is no longer being denied. And now the Russian war machine has to explain its culpability for the first war started by a major power in Europe since 1945, and its responsibility, as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has estimated, for the deaths of up to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers."

"In April 2026 alone, more than 1,600 Ukrainian civilians were killed or maimed. Schools, hospitals and other civic amenities worth half a trillion dollars have been wilfully destroyed. The Putin circle has also to explain why politicians and generals have been prepared to sacrifice almost half a million of their own troops, according to some estimates. And, unlike Putin himself, the cabal can be tried while in office and in absentia."

"At the heart of this is rules-based retribution. While the crime of aggression applies to all those who plan, initiate, influence or shape a war, an extremely high evidentiary stan"

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