Diplomatic editor
British foreign secretary says Russia
faces becoming pariah nation as he calls for protests outside embassy in London
Russia should be investigated for war
crimes in the Syrian city of Aleppo and risks becoming a pariah nation, Boris Johnson has
said, taking the unusual step of calling for demonstrations by anti-war
protesters outside the Russian embassy in London.
The
British foreign secretary said “the mills of justice grind slowly, but they
grind small” as he predicted those responsible for war crimes in Syria would
eventually face charges before the international criminal court.
Johnson’s
remarks underline the degree to which relations between Russia and
the west have deteriorated to levels not seen since the end of the cold war.
Making his frontbench debut as foreign
secretary, Johnson was speaking in a Commons debate that heard senior
Conservatives liken the Russian bombing to the Nazi bombardment of Guernica in
the Spanish civil war. There were also warnings that the entire post-war
architecture of international relations had been placed in jeopardy.
Johnson
appeared to reject calls for a no-fly zone over areas of Syria, saying: “We
cannot commit to a no-fly zone unless we are prepared to confront and perhaps
shoot down planes or helicopters that violate that zone. We need to think very
carefully about the consequences.”
But, he
added, he was sympathetic to those who made the call, and wanted to work
through the options with Britain’s allies.
The
Foreign Office is known to be preparing for a more assertive Syrian policy if Hillary
Clinton becomes the US president in January, but senior UN figures have warned
that eastern Aleppo is likely to have fallen to forces loyal to President
Bashar al-Assad by then if the bombardment continues at its present rate.
In another
sign of the collapse of Russia’s relations with the west, Vladimir Putin called off a state visit to Paris next
week after the French president insisted they discuss Syria.
Johnson called for demonstrations
outside the Russian embassy in London and asked why leftwing protest groups
seemed to lack the outrage over Russian conduct in Syria. “I would certainly like to see
demonstrations outside the Russian embassy. Where is the Stop the War
coalition?”
He
insisted he was not leading an anti-Russia campaign, pointing out the US had
done its utmost to work with the Russian foreign ministry to bring about a
ceasefire. The US “had concluded, rightly, that Russia was determined to help
President Bashar al-Assad’s onslaught regardless of any agreement”.
He added:
“If Russia continues on its current path I believe that this great country is
in danger of becoming a pariah nation, and if President [Vladimir] Putin’s
strategy is to restore the greatness and the glory of Russia, then I believe he
risks his ambition turning to ashes in the face of international contempt for
what is happening in Syria.”
A post on
the Russian embassy’s Twitter feed said:
Very unusual call from the Foreign Secretary to hold
demonstrations in front of the Russian embassy. New form of
British diplomacy?
The press secretary at
the Russian embassy said in a statement later: “The jihadists keep terrorising
the civilians and fighting, rejecting ceasefire and humanitarian aid deliveries.
“Britain’s logic implies putting an end
to fighting terrorists and their allies. Our logic is different. Fight on to
destroy the jihadists, sparing the civilians.”
In a
debate that revealed the deep foreign policy fissure in the Labour party, the
shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, called for the UK to back the
escorting of jihadi fighters out of eastern Aleppo, as had happened in Homs.
She said a ceasefire could be implemented afterwards if the proposal, put
forward by the UN special envoy for Syria, was carried out.
A briefing
paper issued by the Labour party to MPs referred to the possibility that Russia
had committed war crimes but only if the targeting of civilians was deliberate.
Thornberry said statesmanship, not brinkmanship was required, and that Russia
and the US were one wrong decision away from a world war.
Johnson rejected
her support for the jihadi proposal, saying a ceasefire had to precede the
removal of fighters with al-Nusra, a group regarded as the Syrian franchise of
al-Qaida.
Wael Aleji, a spokesperson for the
Syrian Network for Human Rights, said: “Homs is not a good
example, in fact it is resembles the failure of the international community to
fulfill its duties. Using starvation and
indiscriminate bombardment to force civilians into surrender is a barbaric
action that amounts to a war crime.”
An Amnesty
International researcher on Syria, Neil Sammonds, also condemned Labour’s
policy. “This shows an astonishing lack of awareness of the international
humanitarian law violations and human rights violations committed by regime
forces during its attacks on Homs.
“There
were clear indiscriminate attacks with Grad and other missiles and probably
direct attacks on civilians and civilian areas. Peaceful activists were
disappeared.”
Johnson
tried to focus MPs’ minds on the possibility of those responsible for war crimes
being taken to the ICC, even though the court is not recognised by Syria. He
said he believed “there could be advantage in ICC procedures” and that it would
be “a terrible terrible failure” if prosecutions were not made.
“I’m personally very attracted to the
idea of getting these people to come before the international criminal court.
That’s certainly something I would like to pursue,” he said.
He called
for an investigation into attacks on hospitals, which he said were being
targeted with such frequency and precision that it was “difficult to avoid the
conclusion that this must be policy”, amounting to a war crime.
Referring
to attack on the UN humanitarian convoy, he said: “All the available evidence
therefore points to Russian responsibility for the atrocity and I trust the UN
board of inquiry will establish what happened.”
Johnson
said he was prepared to study French proposals that the five permanent members
of the UN security council should be prepared to voluntarily waive their veto
rights in the cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He also
claimed there was “a certain friability” in the European resolve to impose
economic sanctions on Russia, pointing out that many Europeans were reliant on
Russian gas.
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