The UK is set to snub Donald Trump’s board of peace signing ceremony today amid anger at Vladimir Putin’s involvement.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said there were ‘concerns’ about the invite for the Russian dictator to join the body given his invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Trump is expected to launch the board – which includes Labour ex-PM Tony Blair as an executive member – formally in Davos later.
But there are fears of a new standoff developing with allies after a tentative solution was found to the bitter spat over his demands for Greenland.
Critics have warned that the organisation – which has a £1billion fee for permanent membership – appears to be an attempt to supplant the UN.
Originally meant to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza after the war between Hamas and Israel, the board’s charter makes no reference to the Middle East crisis.
Key US allies have expressed skepticism, with France outright refusing to participate and Italy also delaying a decision.
Denmark – at the heart of the row over Mr Trump’s Greenland grab – has not been invited even though Russian puppet regime Belarus is on the list.
Hungary could be the only European nation to join the board at the ceremony today.
Other major countries have signed up, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
About 35 world leaders have committed so far out of the 60 or so invitations that went out, according to the Trump administration.
Mr Trump insisted last night that Putin had agreed to join, but the Kremlin has so far said it is still studying the invite.
Ms Cooper told BBC Breakfast: ‘There’s a huge amount of work to do we won’t be one of the signatories today, because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues, and we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine.
‘And to be honest, that is also what we should be talking about.’
Kemi Badenoch told Sky News she agreed with the government’s caution over the board.
‘Right now we should not be serving on any board with Vladimir Putin. That is something I am completely against,’ she said.
