UK holds off joining Trump’s peace board over Putin concerns

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the UK will not yet be signing up to US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace over concerns about Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s possible participation.

Cooper told the BBC the UK had been invited to join the board but “won’t be one of the signatories today” at a ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The board, which gives Trump wide decision-making powers as chairman, is being billed by the US as a new international organisation for resolving conflicts.

Cooper described the board as a “legal treaty that raises much broader issues” than the initiative’s initial focus on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The charter proposed by the White House does not mention the Palestinian territory and critics say the board appears to be designed to replace some functions of the United Nations.

Some of the US’s traditional allies have not agreed to join the board and notably, none of the other permanent members of the UN Security Council – China, France, Russia, and the UK – have committed to participation so far.

The UN Security Council has been the main international platform for global diplomacy and conflict resolution since the end of World War Two.

But launching the board at a signing ceremony alongside world leaders in Davos, Trump said he did not intend it as a replacement for the UN and expressed his belief that it would help forge an “everlasting” peace in the Middle East.

Trump said the board had the chance to be “one of the most consequential bodies ever created”.

“We’re committed to ensuring Gaza is demilitarised, properly governed and beautifully rebuilt,” Trump said. “It’s going to be a great plan and this is where the board of peace started.”

Trump said once the board had been completely formed, “we can do pretty much whatever we want to do”.

“But we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” he added.

President Trump was joined by the leaders and representatives of 19 countries for the Board of Peace signing ceremony, including Argentina, Hungary, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

President Trump also said Putin had accepted an invitation to join the initiative.

But the Russian president has not confirmed this and earlier he said his country was still studying the invitation.

Putin said the idea of using Russian assets frozen in the US as a contribution to the board would be discussed at a meeting with representatives of the Trump administration later on Thursday, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Speaking to the BBC’s Breakfast programme from Davos, Cooper said the UK had received an invitation to join the board and strongly supported Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza.

“That’s why we are also clear we want to play our part in phase two of the Gaza peace process,” Cooper said.

But she added: “We won’t be one of the signatories today because this is a legal treaty that raises much broader issues.

“And we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something that’s talking about peace when we’ve still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be commitment to peace in Ukraine.”

She said Putin had shown no willingness “to come and make that agreement and that’s where the pressure needs to be now”.

“But we will have continuing international discussions including with our allies,” the foreign secretary said.

Diplomatic relations between the US and the UK are on shakier ground after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on European nations if his demand to hand control of Greenland to his country was not met.

But Trump appears to have backed down, saying the US was exploring a potential deal on Greenland after talks with the Nato security alliance, as he dropped planned tariffs on eight European countries and ruled out using force to take the island.

Cooper welcomed the apparent climbdown on Greenland and said the UK and its European allies had put forward “positive, constructive proposals” on security in the Arctic.

But when asked about the Board of Peace, Cooper echoed other UK cabinet ministers who in recent days have been expressing concerns over Putin’s potential role in the scheme, given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The UK has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies and together with France, signed a declaration of intent on deploying troops to the country if a peace deal is made with Russia.

As talks to end the war in Ukraine continue, President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are due to meet in Davos on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Trump repeated his often-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal.

Trump’s Board of Peace was originally unveiled by the White House as part of a plan to rebuild Gaza and design its future governance.

But the leaked text of the board’s founding charter goes far beyond that purpose.

The text says the board would be “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”.

The leaked document says the Board of Peace’s charter will enter into force once three states formally agree to be bound by it, with member states given renewable three-year terms and permanent seats available to those contributing $1bn (£740m), it said.

The charter declared the body as an international organisation mandated to carry out peace-building functions under international law, with Trump serving as chairman – and separately as the US representative – and holding authority to appoint executive board members and create or dissolve subsidiary bodies.

Last Friday, the White House named seven members of the founding Executive Board, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

More have now said they will join it, including Pakistan, Egypt and Qatar.

The Vatican has said the Pope has also received an invitation.