MARGARET Thatcher’s chief foreign policy adviser has called for more sanctions to be imposed on Russia after the emergence of images of apparent atrocities committed by retreating troops in Ukraine.
Lord Charles Powell said countries that have hesitated to take action against Russia “must do so now”.
He said that more action must be taken after the broadcast of images showing streets strewn with the dead bodies of civilians who had apparently been executed in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
Lord Powell told GB News: “A number of things need to be done. Pictures, evidence of what Russia has been doing, needs to be pushed out to people right across the world, including those who will be rather sceptical about criticising Russia’s invasion, who’ve been slow to accept the idea of sanctions.
“They need to have the evidence who actually dropped in so they can see what they’re condoning by not agreeing to sanctions and other things.
“Secondly, yes, of course, there must be more sanctions and sanctions must be maintained for much longer.”
He made his comments during an interview on Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster on GB News this morning.
Lord Powell added that a change of leadership in Russia must be part of the solution to the crisis in Ukraine, though that may not come soon.
He said: “It would certainly require regime change – I don’t see President Putin changing I’m afraid.
“After all, he extensively denied they had any intention of invading Ukraine, he lies equally in denying that Russian forces have committed any massacres and so on, so I see no hope there.
“How long Putin remains in power, no one can tell, given the way the Russian system operates, but for a man who spent his whole life in counter-intelligence has probably protected himself pretty well.”
Meanwhile Former British Army Officer Hamish De Bretton-Gordon called for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine so the country can rebuild.
He told GB News: “We must stay together and I think one of the really good things about this conflict is that the international community has come together.
“They’ve completely caught the Russians by surprise in this endeavour, and now the Russians are in defeat.
“What we must do now is try and sue for some sort of peace, so that Ukraine, this brave nation, can start rebuilding and get back on its feet and if it means that the Russians hang on to a little bit of Ukraine in the state, that’s probably a price we’ll have to pay.”
