The judge who led the case against Milosevic says Putin must be tried this year

Russian President Vladimir Putin must face trial in Ukraine this year for war crimes committed there, says the man who led the prosecution of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Sir Geoffrey Nice told the BBC that Putin was <x0-guilty” for attacks on civilian targets during the war.

The British lawyer expressed his surprise that prosecutors and politicians are not putting “into this much more freely and more openly”.

Russia denies committing war crimes.

But speaking of the BBC Radio 4 programme, Sir Geoffrey described Moscow's actions during the invasion as “crimes against humanity” As civilian targets were being attacked.

Crime against humanity is considered one of the most serious acts under the so-called “rule of war”.

These laws prohibit attacks on civilians or vital infrastructure for their survival and are defined in international treaties like the Geneva Convention.

For example, Russia's repeated attacks on Ukraine's energy grid during the winter have been described as war crimes because of the damage inflicted on civilians. Russia insists it is hitting military targets only.

Moscow troops have been charged by the international community with thousands of abuses since their country's full-scale invasion last February.

The Attorney General in Kiev says more than 62,000 war crimes have been recorded so far, including the death of more than 450 children. The BBC has been unable to verify these figures, writes Clankosova.tv.

Sir Geoffrey has worked with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) between 1998 and 2006.

He led the case against former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, who went on trial at The Hague in 2002 for war crimes committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Milosevic known as “

Commenting on the war in Ukraine, Sir Geoffrey said the case “could not be more clear” against Mr. Putin, and there was no “no doubt about a command chain leading to the man in the Kremlin.

That meant the most important “ ” was to try the Russian leader himself, instead of low-ranking soldiers, he told “Broadcasting House”.

He added that any trial “can be launched tomorrow morning, in terms of me” and should be held by Ukrainians in Ukrainian. Putin himself would not need to be present, he said.

Sir Geoffrey speculated on a possible reason why the Russian leader had not faced stronger action so far, saying there might be a move to exclude him from prosecution as part of a peace agreement.

He said that the International Criminal Court (ICC) which has jurisdiction over Ukraine “has not yet made a statement regarding Putin's responsibility for this crime”.

Judge Sir Geoffrey said this “hesitation” raised the question whether there was a kind of “political priority to not sue the president.

But he said the idea of any peace solution preventing a trial against Putin was a terrible “perspective, which would be “a complete denial of justice for the people of Ukraine”.

In response, the ICC rejected any claim for <x0pression or impact” against the prosecutor, Karim Khan, to delay any investigation.

Khan had “stated repeatedly... to demonstrate that responsibility is an operation that must be reached”, said in an ICC statement.

There it was said the prosecutor had worked on the ground in Ukraine to collect evidence of war crimes, and arrest warrants would be issued when sufficient evidence had been collected