The world must treat Putin like the Nazis, says visiting foreign minister
A leading critic of the Russian President in Europe has argued that Australia should play a leading role in efforts to force Vladimir Putin to face a Nuremberg-style trial that would hold him responsible for starting the war in Ukraine.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also visited Australia and asked the Albanian government to consider joining a plan to impose a comprehensive travel ban on former Russian soldiers who participated in the war against Ukraine.
As the parliamentary inquiry explores ways to toughen Australia’s sanctions regime against Russia, Tsahkna called on Australia to follow the European Union in imposing tighter restrictions on Russian “blood oil” entering the country through third countries.
Estonia, which has a 295-kilometer land border with Russia, has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022.
The European Union has called for the creation of a special court to indict Putin and other Russian leaders for attacks on Ukraine.
The last time such an accusation was brought to justice was during the Nuremberg trials held after World War II.
“We are asking Australia to participate and be the leading country in the region because these efforts cannot be limited to Europe alone,” said Tsahkna, who met with Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke this week.
“This is not about Europe, this is not about Ukraine, this is about our world order. This is about looking our children in the eye and saying that we actually stand for our values.”
Putin said that although he will do everything in his power to avoid being thrown into the dock, the democratic world should try to hold him legally responsible.
“The leaders of Nazi Germany finally faced justice, and no one believed it could happen. So it is possible,” he said. “I would be very happy to see Putin before a special tribunal in The Hague.
“We need him to face the crimes he committed, that’s our duty.”
Australia supported the establishment of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
Tsahkna said Australia could play an important role by rallying other countries in the Indo-Pacific to support the tribunal, which will be separate from the International Criminal Court’s investigations into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Mark Ellis, president of the International Bar Association, argued that the proposed tribunal “represents a vital mechanism for maintaining the post-World War II international legal order.”
As Estonia pressures Europe to ban the entry of all Russian veterans of the war against Ukraine, Tsahkna warns that battle-hardened “ex-prisoners and rapists” could flock to Western countries once the war is over.
He said Australia should consider the following case.
“These former combatants may also pose a threat to Australia’s internal security,” he said.
Tsahkna recently rebuffed calls from his country’s president for Europe to re-engage in diplomacy with Moscow, saying that would be disastrous for Ukraine’s war effort.
He called on Australia to make every possible effort to prevent Russian oil from entering the country, arguing that this was crucial to cutting off funding for Putin’s war effort.
“Until just a few years ago, Europe was completely dependent on Russian energy imports, so this is possible,” he said.
This imprint’s “Blood Oil” series, published last year, highlighted the large amounts of Russian oil flowing into Australia since the beginning of the war.
Last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade sanctions office issued new advice to companies on how to ensure they do not breach Australia’s existing sanctions regime on Russian oil.
Although it doesn’t go as far as campaigners would like, updated advice It uses stronger language and contains significantly more detail than Previous official advice dated June 2025.
The Ukrainian-Australian community wants the government to comply with the European Union by changing the definition of sanctioned goods to include all oil products derived from Russian crude oil.
Tsahkna said that while Estonia supports US and Israeli attacks on Iran, it is concerned that the rise in global oil prices is helping to finance Putin’s war against Ukraine.
The Trump administration announced this week that it would temporarily allow the sale of offshore Russian oil and ease economic sanctions on Russia.
“The bad part of the story is that the increase in oil prices actually directly supports the Russian war machine,” he said.
The benefit of the war, he said, was the rapid disappearance of Putin’s global allies after the removal of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
One exception, he said, is Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“One phone call from President Xi to Putin is enough to stop the war there,” he said. “This is something we need to address.”
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