Tuesday April 5 2022 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73749Britain has demanded “maximum”
sanctions against Russia as the US
called for President Putin to be put on
trial for war crimes.
A deadline for ending western use of
Russian oil and gas is being urged by the
UK after what it called “barbaric
crimes” by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Ukraine declared victory yesterday
in the battle for Kyiv, but warned that
the footage of mass graves and dead
civilians in the town of Bucha was
evidence only of “the tip of the iceberg”
of crimes committed by Russian forces.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary,
said that “more weapons and more
sanctions” were needed after the latest
reports of atrocities around Kyiv, which
she condemned as “butchery”.
She promised to press the EU and G
to stop money “flowing from the West
into Putin’s war machine”, by cutting off
Russia from the Swift banking system
and banning its ships from western ports.
Britain is also calling for a “clear
timetable” for ending western use of
Russian energy as ministers redouble
efforts to persuade European countries
to do more to cut off funding to Putin.
Boris Johnson is likely to urge Germany
to set a date for phasing out Russian
gas when he meets Olaf Scholz,
the chancellor, in Downing Street
on Friday.
In other developments:
6 President Biden said that evidence
must be gathered so Putin can face a
“war crimes trial”
6 Russia is recruiting a “dads’ army” of
volunteers aged up to 60 after suffering
heavy losses during six weeks of
fighting across Ukraine.
6 The retired US general David
Petraeus said that Russian troops were
unable to perform the “most basic
tasks” in Ukraine.
6 A senior western official denied
claims that the US could facilitate the
transfer of T-72 tanks to Ukraine,
saying the reports were not accurate.
6 The leader of Chechnya criticised
Putin’s spokesman, prompting fears
that the hardliner and favourite of the
president could be being lined up to
seize control of Russia’s security elite.
6 The US government ordered its first
seizure of an oligarch’s yacht, the
$90 million Tango. It sent FBI agents to
the Balearic Islands to impound the
78-metre vessel, which has been linked
to Viktor Vekselberg, 64, a mining
tycoon close to Putin.
With continuing tension between
eastern and western Europe over sanc-
tions, Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish
prime minister, lashed out at President
Macron of France yesterday for trying
to mediate with Putin since the inva-
sion began, comparing the Russian
leader to Adolf Hitler.
“President Macron, how many times
have you negotiated with Putin, what
have you achieved? Have you stopped
any of the actions that have taken
Continued on page 2, col 3Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
Hugh Tomlinson Washington
The world can avoid the worst conse-
quences of climate change but only by
making “immediate and deep emissions
reductions” and by doing more to suck
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a
landmark UN report has said.
The cost of technologies needed to
avert climate disaster, such as wind,
President Zelensky in Bucha, outside Kyiv, yesterday. He said Russia had committed
genocide when its forces shot civilians in the town, leaving their bodies in the streets‘Outsourcing’
of migrants
to Rwanda
edges closer
Steven Swinford Political Editor
Matt Dathan Home Affairs EditorBoris Johnson is close to making a
formal statement about plans to “out-
source” the processing of asylum seekers
to Rwanda, The Times has been told.
The prime minister wanted to
announce a trial of the plans last week
after a surge in the number of migrants
crossing the English Channel.
However, a government source said
that the prime minister had “wobbled”
after colleagues raised concerns that
the plans were not ready.
The nationality and borders bill,
which will enable asylum seekers to be
processed abroad, has not yet gained
royal assent and the terms of the deal
with Rwanda are still to be finalised.
“He wanted to go ahead with it but it’s
just not ready,” a government source
said. “It’s close but there are still a lot of
things in the balance.”
Ministers believe an announcement
is likely if, as hoped, the bill passes
through all stages before the Queen’s
Speech next month. There is resistance
in the Lords, and the Tory MP David
Davis has tabled an amendment to
scrap the measures in the Commons.
Under the plans, the government
would fly asylum seekers to Rwanda for
processing and settlement. Britain
would pay Rwanda millions as part of
any deal. However, the discussions
have been shrouded in secrecy, with
ministers referring only to “country X”
during meetings. Similar attempts to
“offshore” the processing of migrants to
Albania and Ghana collapsed after The
Times disclosed the discussions.
This year 4,550 migrants have
crossed the Channel in small boats —
more than triple the number that had
arrived by this time in 2021. That figure
was not reached last year until mid-
June, suggesting that this year will beat
2021’s record 28,526 crossings.
Plans to announce the transfer of
responsibility for curbing Channel
migrant crossings from Border Force to
the Royal Navy have been delayed by
disagreements between the Home
Office and the Ministry of Defence.Britain calls
for tougher
sanctions
on Russia
Plea to end energy imports after war ‘butchery’
RONALDO SCHEMIDT AFP/GETTY IMAGESWestminster sleaze
Did it ever go away?
My wild
nights at
Berlin club
(that’s too cool
for Elon Musk)
2G 2 GINSIDE
TIMES
£2.20 £1.45 to subscribers
(based on 7 Day Print Pack)Now or never — but world can avoid climate disaster, says UN
Ben Webster Environment Editor solar and batteries, has fallen by up to
85 per cent since 2010 and more than
half of global emissions are covered by
national laws requiring reductions, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change said.
Although average annual green-
house gas emissions were at their high-
est level in human history in the past
decade, the rate of growth has slowed
from 2.1 per cent a year between 2000
and 2009 to 1.3 per cent a year between
2010 and 2019. However, the report says
that, with existing policies, the world is
on course for a catastrophic 3.2C of
warming by the end of the century.
Even with the most ambitious action
it is “almost inevitable” that the global
temperature will temporarily exceed the
1.5C limit set in the Paris Agreement.António Guterres, the UN secretary
general, said the report was “a file of
shame” that exposed the empty pledges
by some governments and businesses.
The report says emissions must peak
by 2025 at the latest and then decline by
43 per cent by 2030 to limit warming
to 1.5C. It sets out how this can be done
by switching to cheaper renewable
energy, electric heating and transport,improving energy efficiency, capturing
carbon and reducing deforestation.
Jim Skea, a professor at Imperial
College London and co-chairman of
the working group that produced the
report, said: “It’s now or never, if we
want to limit global warming to 1.5C.”
File of shame, page 16
Emissions must be cut dramatically,
leading article, page 33