Former Foreign Secretary, William Hague sat down with Times Radio to discuss his latest column about the intense situation between neighbouring countries Russia and Ukraine. Russian President Putin has been facing international backlash from political leaders for declaring Donetsk and Luhansk as independent Russian states. Mr Hague discussed Putin’s latest moves, and why he believes Putin is on the path to being a war criminal. The Former Foreign Secretary also explained that Putin’s regime was now being exposed to the world as an “aggressive, criminal, gangster” state.
Mr Hague said: “The intelligence agencies have warned about it, in detail, about what would happen, and all of that is coming true.
“Almost following… Putin is almost following a script, and he’s certainly following a plan.
“It is absolutely chilling, and somebody was quoted in the Times this morning in Ukraine is saying ‘Putin has just passed over to the dark side of history.’
“And maybe he was well on his way to that anyway, but I think that is true, this has revealed Russia’s regime now to the world, as an aggressive, criminal, gangster state.
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Mr Hague added: “And that means it has to be treated differently in the future, as the point of the column I’ve written in The Times this morning, from just going back to normal as we’ve always tried to do before.
“So, this is a pivotal moment in the history of Europe and the world in the 21st century, I think.
Ms Mir said: “Absolutely, we’ll come on to your column and the question of sanctions, which Boris Johnson has talked about this morning.
“Can you explain as former Foreign Secretary, this tactic, you know what he’s done in terms on Donetsk and Luhansk?
“Where he said that Ukraine is just this kind of aggressive but at the same time pathetic country.
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Ms Mir added: “That is being aggressive towards well, towards whom in these two regions?
“Just explain what he’s trying to do, by what happened yesterday?”
Mr Hague said: “Well of course he has to justify it somehow to his own people, probably the Russian people, as far as we know, are not enthusiastic about having a war.
“So he has to have a pretext and excuse, under international law he’s looking for an excuse because he is on the course to be a war criminal.
“And so, you know, he has to come up with the reasons he’s done things.”
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Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has been warning Russia that the UK will impose strict financial sanctions on their country if they invade Ukraine.
Foreign Secretary Ms Truss said: “This first wave of sanctions will hit oligarchs and banks close to the Kremlin. It sends a clear message that the UK will use our economic heft to inflict pain on Russia and degrade their strategic interests.
“And we are prepared to go much further if Russia does not pull back from the brink. We will curtail the ability of the Russian state and Russian companies to raise funds in our markets, prohibit a range of high tech exports, and further isolate Russian banks from the global economy.
“These will be surgically targeted sanctions that will hit Russia hard.”
