Russian commanders who follow Vladimir Putin’s illegal orders will be hunted down for war crimes, Dominc Raab has vowed.
The Justice Secretary said the UK was already drawing up plans to help identify and track down fugitives suspected of atrocities.
In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Mr Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister, said Britain had expertise from previous conflicts of gathering intelligence that could provide vital evidence that prosecutors needed to put war criminals on trial.
It came as Boris Johnson for the first time explicitly accused Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine as he expressed his shock at the bombardment of civilian areas.
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Mr Raab, a former lawyer who prosecuted war criminals, said he was in discussions with Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, on the UK’s precise role but added: “It is important to lay down a marker now and puncture the perception of impunity.
“What we really want to do is get this message to Putin but also any commander in the field who may be thinking about what he is going to do with an illegal order that may cause him to commit war crimes.
“They need to know there is a very real chance that they will face the dock of a court in The Hague and a jail cell. That’s why we will support the International Criminal Court, technically but also in terms of any other ways.”
Asked whether that could involve intercepts to identify the military commanders ordering missile strikes on civilians, Mr Raab said: “We would not discuss sensitive intelligence sharing but what I can tell you is that, from Nuremberg through to the Yugoslav tribunal and International Criminal Court, we have always had cooperation and information which has done two things.
“One is to locate fugitives. The second is that it helped provide lead information which can help the prosecutor’s office gather evidence which will secure convictions. We have expertise in that area and provided lead information in the past that has proved absolutely critical. Few countries around the world have that sort of capability.”
Mr Raab said Britain would not only work with partners but “the UK would be willing to step up and perform its role and the Ministry of Justice certainly would”.
The International Criminal Court said an investigation into possible war crimes “will immediately proceed” after it received the backing of 39 countries, including the UK.
Mr Raab said the UK could help with witness location and protection, while its prisons could house suspected war criminals. He cited Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader jailed in the UK under a sentence agreement negotiated with the Yugoslav tribunal in 2004.
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On Wednesday, Mr Johnson told MPs: “What we have seen already from Vladimir Putin’s regime in the use of the munitions that they have already been dropping on innocent civilians, in my view, already fully qualifies as a war crime.”
He expressed “disgust” at the “abhorrent” attacks in one of what have become near-daily phone calls with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.
Mr Johnson also pledged to publish a “full list” of cronies associated with Putin amid pressure from MPs to go further in cracking down on oligarchs.
British athletes could be urged by ministers to boycott the Paralympic Winter Games, which begin later this week, if Russian athletes are still allowed to compete. The International Paralympic Committee on Wednesday decided that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete under the Paralympic flag.
Writing for The Telegraph, Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary, doubled down on the Government’s cultural and sporting boycott of Russia over Ukraine, saying “Putin needs the kudos of these global events to cover up his illegitimacy and the hideous acts he is perpetrating in Ukraine”.
