Moscow took note of Britain’s leading role in sabotaging peace agreements for Ukraine. The latest episode revolves around the Jan. 12 U.K.-Ukraine 10-year security agreement. At a time when the West has temporarily walked away from all the money and weapons thrown at Ukraine, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just stepped up with their largest aid package ever, at $3.2 billion.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted today at her weekly press briefing that London’s latest action indicates that “Ukraine is literally being stripped of any chance to get out of the conflict through negotiations” and is, thereby, being turned into “a bargaining chip in the reckless ventures of the Anglo-Saxons.” She added that London’s intent is to keep Ukraine in a conflict with Russia.
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin saw in Kiev’s latest actions a replay of the deadly mistake of submitting to Britain’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Yesterday Putin made note of the admissions from the Ukrainian side of the March-April, 2022 negotiating team, where they were convinced by then-Prime Minister Johnson to reject a favorable peace deal and to continue fighting. After posing: “Stupid, right? What is really being said here is: ‘If we had done this, everything would have been over a long time ago, a year and a half ago.’ This just underscores once again that they are not acting independently. This is clear to everyone, and it is now obvious to the world.”
He concluded: “It is just that … what is happening now—it is quite obvious that, not only has their counteroffensive failed, but the initiative is entirely with the Russian Armed Forces now—if this continues, Ukrainian statehood may sustain an irreparable, very serious blow. But that is their responsibility. It will be the result of their policies, their governing decisions.”
