Tag Archives: Vladimir Putin

Piers Morgan Banned From Russia In Latest Round Of Sanctions

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TalkTV’s Piers Morgan and BBC presenter Huw Edwards are among the latest UK politicians and journalists to be banned from Russia.

The Russian foreign ministry issued a list of 39 newly sanctioned individuals it said are no longer allowed to enter the Russian Federation.

It said the action was in response to UK sanctions issued against Russian ministers, officials and members of influential families linked to the Kremlin following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry claimed those individuals sanctioned have contributed to “London’s hostile course aimed at the demonisation of our country and its international isolation”.

Other than Morgan and Edwards, journalists including ITV’s Robert Peston and head of Sky News, John Ryley, are also listed alongside reporters at various outlets.

Morgan, writing on Twitter, said: “It wasn’t on my immediate vacation to-do list.”

The broadcaster last week interviewed Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska.

Edwards tweeted: “Huw’ve been banned! I made the Kremlin cut (39/39).”

Former prime minister David Cameron is the first name on the list, followed by Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, a former Nato secretary-general, while Labour leader Keir Starmer and shadow cabinet ministers Lisa Nandy, David Lammy and Nick Thomas-Symonds also feature.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, Scottish government economy secretary Kate Forbes and transport minister Wendy Morton, previously in the foreign office, are also among those included.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement: “As has been noted more than once, the pernicious actions of the UK in planting Russophobia, spreading false information about our country and supporting the Kyiv neo-Nazi regime will receive an adequate and decisive response from the Russian side.

“The choice in favour of confrontation is a conscious decision of the British political establishment, which bears all responsibility for the consequences.”

The statement also said it will continue work to expand the list.

Earlier this year, Russia said it was taking action against 287 MPs in retaliation for sanctions against Russian politicians.

But the list included several former MPs.

Prime minister Boris Johnson said in April that MPs should regard their inclusion on the list as a “badge of honour”.

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Putin Tries To Stoke Culture Wars By Citing JK Rowling Being ‘Cancelled’

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Russian president Vladimir Putin has been accused of a thinly-veiled attempt to divide the West by claiming his country was being victimised by “cancel culture” after its invasion of Ukraine.

Putin likened the world’s condemnation of Russia to the backlash that Harry Potter author JK Rowling received for controversial comments about the transgender community. Rowling was “cancelled”, Putin said, “just because she didn’t satisfy the demands of gender rights”, according to an interpreter’s translation.

He also claimed Western countries were trying to cancel the works of composers Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff.

On Twitter, Rowling responded to Putin’s suggestion, and shared an article about incarcerated Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

She wrote: “Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics.”

The writer also shared the hashtag #IStandWithUkraine.

Liberal Deocrat MP and ex-leader Tim Farron led the chorus urging people to avoid “amplifying (Russian) propaganda just because they affirm things that you already think”.

In a subsequent tweet, Rowling detailed the work her Lumos charity is doing in Ukraine.

“Children trapped in orphanages and other institutions are exceptionally vulnerable right now,” she said.

“Thank you so, so much to everyone who has already donated to Lumos’s Ukraine appeal.”

Rowling said she was personally matching all donations to the Lumos emergency appeal up to £1 million.

Putin is reported as saying: “They cancelled Joanne Rowling recently, the children’s author.

“Her books are published all over the world. Just because she did not satisfy the demands of gender rights.

“They are trying to cancel our country. I am talking about the progressive discrimination of everything to do with Russia – this trend that is unfolding in a number of Western states.”

Rowling in June 2020 wrote an essay explaining how she was partly motivated to speak about transgender issues because of her experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Critics have accused the writer of being transphobic, an allegation she strongly denies.

Her critics have included Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

But other commentators, including journalist Owen Jones, argued Putin was not be especially sophisticated.

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UK Sends 6,000 More Missiles To Ukraine In Johnson Push To ‘Keep Flame Of Freedom Alive’

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The UK is to send 6,000 more missiles to Ukraine to bolster Kyiv’s fight against Russia’s invasion as Boris Johnson urged Western allies to help “keep the flame of freedom alive”.

The British prime minister will use as summit of Nato and G7 leaders to detail a new support package for the Ukrainian military, including thousands of missiles comprising anti-tank and high-explosive weaponry.

In addition, the UK is providing £25 million from the Foreign Office’s conflict security and stabilisation fund to help pay the salaries of Ukrainian soldiers and pilots battling the Russians.

Ahead of his visit to Brussels on Thursday for talks, a month on from the Russian invasion, Johnson called on other Western leaders to step up the supply of military hardware to Kyiv as well as doubling down on sanctions against Russia.

“Vladimir Putin is already failing in Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have shown themselves to be extraordinarily brave and tenacious in defending their homeland, in the face of an unprovoked onslaught,” he said.

“But we cannot and will not stand by while Russia grinds Ukraine’s towns and cities into dust. The United Kingdom will work with our allies to step up military and economic support to Ukraine, strengthening their defences as they turn the tide in this fight.

“One month into this crisis, the international community faces a choice. We can keep the flame of freedom alive in Ukraine, or risk it being snuffed out across Europe and the world.”

Britain has already sent more than 4,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, including next-generation light anti-tank weapons systems (Nlaws) and Javelin missiles.

The UK is also supplying and training Ukrainian troops in the use of Starstreak high-velocity anti-air missiles as well as providing body armour, helmets and combat boots.

In a further move, the government is to provide an additional £4.1 million to the BBC World Service to counter disinformation in Russia and Ukraine as well as new support for the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Justice secretary Dominic Raab will chair a meeting of justice and foreign ministers in The Hague to coordinate support for the ICC’s war crimes investigations.

He is expected to announce an additional £1 million in funding for the court, as well as new support from UK soldiers with expertise in intelligence gathering and Scotland Yard’s War Crimes Team.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s predecessor told ITV News on Tuesday: “Please, no comparison.”

“How many citizens of the United Kingdom died because of Brexit? Zero,” he said, pointing to “only today” 150 Ukrainian children were killed by the Russian military and that whole cities have been completely destroyed.

Johnson also faced a backlash on Wednesday for pulling faces in the Commons as chancellor Rishi Sunak described Ukrainians huddled in basements.

The latest UK military intelligence suggests Russia is failing to break the spirit of the Ukrainian population as its invasion continues to stall.

In an intelligence briefing on Tuesday night, the ministry of defence said attempts to use media manipulation, propaganda and install pro-Kremlin local leaders have so far been unsuccessful.

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Putin In Full Dictator Mode During Terrifying Rally In Moscow

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The Russian president Vladimir Putin celebrated the eight years since his troops seized the Ukrainian region of Crimea with a bizarre rally on Friday.

He spoke in front of a huge crowd in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium and praised the war effort in Ukraine which has seen hundreds on both sides die.

Despite being accused of of committing war crimes through his attacks on civilians, the widespread Ukrainian resistance and the repeated suppression of any forms of free speech in Russia, the president told the audience: “We have not had unity like this for a long time.”

Putin also honoured those in Crimea who stood up to “neo-Nazis and radical nationals” and joined Russia, even though world leaders have rejected any claim that there is Nazism in Ukraine’s government.

In an ominous nod to the future, Putin also promised the crowd: “We know what we have to do next…we’ll definitely carry out all the plans we have made.”

The stadium speech is comparable to the kind of rallies former US president Donald Trump became famous for. The two leaders were said to have a certain kind of rapport, and the former US president has even called Putin’s Ukraine strategy a work of “genius”.

The rally speaks to the West’s concerns about Putin’s increasingly unhinged behaviour, and comes a day after current US president Joe Biden labelled him a “murderous dictator” and a “pure thug”.

What is the annexation of Crimea?

March 18, 2014, does mark Russia’s complete annexation of Crimea, although the peninsula is still not legally recognised as part of the country by the international community.

It followed an internationally discredited public vote held two days before where the people living in the peninsula were asked whether they wanted to be part of Russia or part of Ukraine.

While 97% of votes backed joining Russia, Ukraine said the referendum was illegal as it had taken place while Russian forces were in Crimea.

The 2014 annexation of Crimea is now perceived as the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Did people really want to be at the rally?

Russian representatives claimed more than 200,000 people attended Friday’s celebrations. The official capacity of the stadium is 81,000, although there were crowds outside the stadium too.

But many attendees told the BBC they had been pressured by their employers in the public sector to attend.

Some students were allowed not to attend lectures as long as they went to the “concert”, while others told the BBC they had not been aware that the event was aimed at consolidating support for the Ukrainian war.

There is thought to be some support for the Russian attack on its European neighbour, but the full extent of the general public’s backing is hard to calculate.

The Kremlin has quashed any efforts to speak out against the invasion, including attempts to call it a war – Russia prefers to call it a “special military operation” – shutting down any protests or independent media outlets.

Children in their last six years of school have to now attend “My Country” lessons where they watch a video of Putin sharing his take on Ukraine’s history.

Putin is known to consider Ukraine and Russia as “brother nations” and wants them both to be under his influence in a throwback to the pre-Soviet era.

Children have been seen lining up to create the letter Z – the pro-invasion symbol which was first seen on the side of Russian tanks – and will have lessons dedicated to March 18 which aim to “form an understanding” of patriotism.

Teachers also shared a video showing people in the military are more likely to become heroes, all in honour of the “Crimean spring”.

Is the war really going well?

The Russian offensive is thought to have slowed significantly since it first began more than three weeks ago.

Russian forces are becoming increasingly violent and attacks on the west Ukraine city of Lviv shows the offensive is now spreading out.

Officials in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv say almost 90% of buildings in the city of Mariupol have now been damaged or destroyed by Russian forces, including a bomb shelter within a theatre where hundreds were sheltering.

The word “children” had been writing by Ukrainians in Russian outside for those dropping the bombs, although Kremlin representatives claim the attack was nothing to do with them.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia is actually not doing as well as it expected to in its invasion because Putin expected the country to be the same as it was in 2014, during the Crimea annexation.

He said Russia “didn’t know what we had for defence or how we prepared to meet the blow”.

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UK To Personally Sanction Vladimir Putin After Ukraine Invasion

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The UK will personally sanction Russian president Vladimir Putin, Boris Johnson has told a virtual meeting of Nato leaders.

Putin and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov are being targeted over their “revanchist mission” to overturn the post-Cold War order, the prime minister said.

He told alliance leaders on Friday that the UK would echo measures announced by the EU to target the Russian leader.

Referring to Putin’s wish to recover territory which previously fell under the USSR, he said Russia was “engaging in a revanchist mission to overturn post-Cold War order”.

Johnson told allies “the UK would introduce sanctions against president Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov imminently, on top of the sanctions package the UK announced yesterday”, according to a No 10 spokesman.

“He warned the group that the Russian president’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences,” he said.

Johnson also used the meeting to urge “immediate action” over the banning of Russia from the Swift payment system to “inflict maximum pain” on the Kremlin.

It comes as frustrated Russian forces are prepared to “indiscriminately” use thermobaric bombs to seize control of Ukraine, Western officials believe.

One western official said it was “likely” that Russia failed to achieve its main objectives on day one of its invasion of Ukraine.

The official added: “And my fear with those objectives, that timescale not being met, is if that continues to be a theme where they are delayed and then my concern is that that Russia uses indiscriminate use of indirect fire, particularly artillery systems, thermobaric weapons – which we know Russia has both in its armoury and has used in previous conflicts.

“At the moment we’re not seeing the use of those particular weapons. But my fear would be that if they don’t meet the timescales and objectives that they would be indiscriminate in the use of violence and they don’t adhere to the same principles of necessity and proportionality and rule of law that Western forces do.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president issued a sombre warning to leaders of the EU as Russian forces continue to violently invade the country.

“This might be the last time you see me alive,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly told EU leaders on a conference call on Thursday night.

Zelenskyy is currently hiding in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv as more than 100,000 Russian troops continue to attack the country on Putin’s orders.

“We were supposed to talk on the phone this morning, but he was no longer available,” Italian prime minister Mario Draghi told his parliament on Friday morning of Zelenskyy.

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Hollywood Actress Wishes She Was Vladimir Putin’s Mother In Bizarre Tweet

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While much of the world is debating how to handle Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one former star of the rebooted “90210” thinks she could have put a stop to it before it ever happened.

AnnaLynne McCord, who played antihero Naomi Clark from 2008 to 2013, on Thursday posted a video on Twitter with a personal ― and peculiar message to Putin.

It begins with McCord saying, “Dear President Vladimir Putin,” while subtitles in English (not Russian) appear below.

Then, the 34-year-old actor apologizes to the 69-year-old Russian leader for not giving birth to him.

“I’m so sorry that I was not your mother. If I was your mother, you would have been so loved, held in the arms of joyous light. Never would this story’s plight. The world unfurled before our eyes. A pure demise.”

It’s bizarre. See the whole 2-minute, 20-second clip yourself.

Although the clip is starting to go viral, many viewers weren’t impressed with McCord’s notion that complex geopolitical issues could have been solved with a few hugs in the early stages of life.

So far, there is no word if Putin has seen McCord’s video, but one person predicted his reaction to it.

And, yes, many people couldn’t help but be reminded of another celebrity gaffe: Gal Gadot’s “Imagine” video from the beginning of the pandemic.

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What Are The New ‘Severe’ Sanctions Boris Johnson Has Slapped On Russia?

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Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine this morning, sending troops, missiles and bombs across the border.

There has been reports of civilian casualties and families have been trying to flee Kyiv amid the chaos.

President Vladimir Putin’s invasion has been condemned by western allies, with Boris Johnson accusing him of being a “blood-stained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest”.

Johnson has now unveiled ten further punitive measures after he was initially criticised for not going far enough with his first set of sanctions.

In a Commons statement, he vowed the UK would implement “the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen”.

Here, HuffPost UK takes you through what has been announced today and assesses what impact they will have.

What Did Boris Johnson Announce Today?

Here are the 10 new sanctions:

1) An asset freeze on all major Russian banks, including VTB, the country’s second largest bank with assets totalling £154 billion.

2) Legislation to stop Russian companies to raise finance in this country and to ban the Russian state from raising sovereign debt on the UK markets.

3) Sanctions against more than 100 Russian individuals, entities and subsidiaries. They include five wealthy oligarchs with links to the Putin regime.

4) Immediately banning Russian airline Aeroflot from landing planes in the UK.

5) Suspend and prohibit all dual use export licences to Russia on items such as electrical components that could be used in military or civilian computers.

6) Legislation prohibiting a wide range of high-tech exports to Russia.

7) A new law limiting the amount of money Russian nationals can deposit in UK bank accounts.

8) Work with allies to limit Russian access to the Swift international payment system.

9) Extend the full range of sanctions against Russia to Belarus, given its close links with Moscow and the part it played in the invasion of Ukraine.

10) Bring forward measures intended for the Economic Crime Bill to strengthen unexplained wealth orders and take action against kleptocrats that launder funds in the UK.

What Sanctions Were Already In Place?

Johnson announced the UK’s first set of measures against Putin on Tuesday which included sanctioning three wealthy allies of Putin and five Russian banks.

Alongside this, members of Russia’s lower parliamentary chamber, the Duma, and the Federation Council, who voted to recognise the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, also face sanctions.

In addition, the territorial sanctions that were imposed on Crimea in the aftermath of the 2014 war will be extended to Donetsk and Luhansk, so no trade can be undertaken with UK individuals or businesses until they are returned to Ukrainian control.

How Will The New Sanctions Hurt Russia?

The sanctions announced today will hit the pockets of oligarchs, big banks and companies with direct links to the Kremlin.

On the five super-rich oligarchs being targeted, a diplomatic source said: “These are people who have international lifestyles.

“They come to Harrods to shop, they stay in our best hotels when they like, they send their children to our best public schools, and that is what’s being stopped.

“So that these people are essentially persona non grata in every major Western European capital in the world. That really bites.”

In Johnson’s words, the aim is to “hobble” the Russian economy and increase the pressure on Putin to end his military action in Ukraine.

Even before the sanctions take effect, Russia’s economy is already feeling the impact of the global condemnation of its invasion.

Some $250 billion has already been wiped from the value of Russia’s top companies – the biggest one day decline on record – while the rouble has plummeted to record lows against dollar.

What Has Been The Political Reaction To The Sanctions?

Unlike the response to the previous sanctions announcement, opposition parties have responded positively to the latest measures, while urging the prime minister to go further if necessary.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said: “I welcome the set of sanctions outlined by the prime minister today and pledge opposition support for further measures.

“And there are changes we must make here in the UK. For too long our country has been a safe-haven, for the money that Putin and his fellow bandits stole from the Russian people. It must change now.

“Cracking open the shell companies in which the stolen money is hidden will require legislation. Bring it forward immediately prime minister and Labour will support it.”

SNP leader Ian Blackford called for the “complete economic isolation” of Russia.

He said: “Let’s not fall for the Kremlin propaganda that they are prepared to soak up any sanctions. If we act now, if the sanctions are targeted enough, swift enough, severe enough, if we impose nothing less than economic isolation, Putin and his cronies will suffer the consequences of their actions.”

What Might Happen Next?

Western officials believe Putin is determined to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and replace the pro-western president Volodymr Zelensky with a puppet regime.

They fear such an assault would lead to large numbers of civilian casualties and the conflict could lead to clashes with neighbouring countries such as Poland, a Nato member.

Under Article 5 of the Nato constitution, which decrees that an attack on one member is an attack on them all, this would lead to full-scale war between Russia and the west.

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Kenya’s United Nations Speech On Ukraine Praised For Citing Africa’s Colonial Legacy

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Martin Kimani used his address at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to warn Vladimir Putin to respect Russia’s border with Ukraine and highlight the dangers of stoking the “embers of dead empires”.

His remarks came after the Russian president ordered troops into eastern Ukraine – under the fabrication of “peace keeping” – after recognising the independence of two separatist regions, a move criticised globally as a breach of international law.

Kimani said the birth of Kenya and Ukraine’s independence in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union had the “ending of empire” in common.

He said rather than engage in “bloody wars” that would be raging decades later, Africa opted to “settle for the borders that we inherited”, even if there was a “yearning for integration with peoples in neighbouring states”. Kimani added Kenya “rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force” and “we reject it again today”.

A clip of the address, which came hours after Putin had given a rambling speech re-writing the history of eastern Europe, was viewed more than 3 million times from one Twitter feed.

“Kenya and almost every African country was birthed by the ending of empire. Our borders were not of our own drawing. They were drawn in the distant colonial metropoles of London, Paris, and Lisbon with no regard for the ancient nations that they cleaved apart.

“Today, across the border of every single African country live our countrymen, with whom we share deep historical, cultural, and linguistic bonds.

“At independence, had we chosen to pursue states on the basis of ethnic, racial, or religious homogeneity, we would still be waging bloody wars these many decades later. Instead, we agreed that we would settle for the borders that we inherited, but we would still pursue continental political, economic, and legal integration. Rather than form nations that looked ever backwards into history with a dangerous nostalgia, we chose to look forward to a greatness none of our many nations and peoples had ever known.

“We chose to follow the rules of the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations Charter, not because our borders satisfied us, but because we wanted something greater, forged in peace.

“We believe that all states formed from empires that have collapsed or retreated have many peoples in them yearning for integration with peoples in neighbouring states. This is normal and understandable. After all, who does not want to be joined to their brethren and to make common purpose with them?

“However, Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression. We rejected irredentism and expansionism on any basis, including racial, ethnic, religious, or cultural factors. We reject it again today.”

Putin also ordered the deployment of Russian forces to the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine “keep the peace” – though commentators have warned not to be fooled by the language.

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Johnson: Putin’s Decision To Recognise Separatist Ukraine States ‘A Very Dark Sign’

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Boris Johnson has hinted Russia could face fresh sanctions as Vladimir Putin said he would recognise two breakaway republics in Ukraine.

The UK prime minister said the Russian president’s decision to acknowledge Donetsk and Luhansk’s claims to independence was a “very dark sign” that is “plainly in breach of international law”.

On Monday, the Ukraine crisis intensified as Putin used a long speech to recognise the two rebel-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, which breaches the 2015 protocol that ended the conflict in Donbas.

The comments come amid mounting Western fears that Russia, which has massed an estimated 150,000 troops near Ukraine’s border, is poised to invade.

The move appears to have dashed hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough which had been raised with the possibility of talks between Putin and US president Joe Biden.

Johnson said he was considering whether the actions could trigger the imposition of fresh sanctions on Russia, as foreign secretary Liz Truss said Putin’s actions could not be allowed to go “unpunished”.

At a Downing Street press conference, the PM said: “This is plainly in breach of international law, it’s a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine.

“It is a repudiation of the Minsk process and the Minsk Agreements.

“I think it’s a very ill omen and a very dark sign.”

It was “yet another indication that things are moving in the wrong direction in Ukraine”.

The prime minister had previously said sanctions would be triggered if Russia invaded Ukraine.

But he said: “Plainly what has happened is extremely bad news and we will be urgently talking to our friends and allies around the world, all of whom are jointly signed up with us in this package of sanctions.”

Johnson said it was “becoming clear that we are going to need to start applying as much pressure as we possibly can”.

“It is hard to see how this situation improves,” he acknowledged.

But he added: “I think there’s a sort of chance that (Putin) could row back from this, and we’ve got to pray that that’s the case.”

The prime minister said he would speak to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to “offer him the support of the United Kingdom”.

Meanwhile, the foreign secretary said the recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic as independent states “demonstrates Russia’s decision to choose a path of confrontation over dialogue”.

“We will co-ordinate our response with allies,” she said.

“We will not allow Russia’s violation of its international commitments to go unpunished.”

The government has already promised a tougher sanctions regime to deal with any Russian transgression, with MPs expected to approve the new framework on Tuesday.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said: “This blatant breach of international law must be met with consequences from the international community.”

The European Union announced it would impose sanctions in response to Russia’s recognition of the two states.

In a joint statement, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Charles Michel said it was an “illegal act”.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said: “This further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party.”

Earlier defence secretary Ben Wallace has said there was still “strong cause for concern” that Putin remained committed to an invasion of Ukraine, despite diplomatic moves to end the crisis.

In a Commons statement, he said Russian forces were continuing to move towards the border zone contrary to repeated assurances given by Moscow.

There were now more than 110 battalion tactical groups massed along the border while the Black Sea fleet included two amphibious groups and nine cruise missile-equipped ships with a further four cruise missile-capable vessels in the Caspian.

At the same time, he said there had been “a proliferation of false flag operations and propaganda stunts and Russian news outlets carrying fictitious allegations”.

Downing Street said intelligence reports suggested the Russian plan “has in effect already begun” and that it was “starting to play out in real time”.

Nevertheless Johnson’s official spokesman said there was still a “window for diplomacy” after it appeared that a tentative agreement had been reached on a crisis summit between Putin and Biden.

Following a series of lengthy calls involving French president Emmanuel Macron, the White House said talks could go ahead provided there had been no invasion.

However Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later that while the two leaders could meet if they considered it necessary, no plans for a summit had been agreed.

“It’s premature to talk about specific plans for a summit. The meeting is possible if the leaders consider it feasible,” he said.

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Boris Johnson ‘Fears For The Security Of Europe’ As Tensions Grow Over Potential Russian Invasion Of Ukraine

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Boris Johnson “fears for the security of Europe” as tensions mount over a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine and British people were urged to leave the country.

The UK prime minister voiced his concern during a call with Western leaders – including US president Joe Biden – as the Foreign Office updated its advice on Friday evening to urge UK nationals to “leave now while commercial means are still available”.

At the same time, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said there is the “credible prospect” of an invasion of some sort taking place before the end of the Winter Olympics on February 20.

He said the Russians are in a position to “mount a major military operation in Ukraine any day now”, which could include a “rapid assault on the city of Kyiv” or on other parts of the country.

The warning was echoed by UK defence secretary Ben Wallace, who said warned an invasion could come “at any time”.

Tensions have heightened in the last 24 hours as Russian president Vladimir Putin has now amassed an estimated 130,000 troops on the border with Ukraine.

<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="US national security advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily White House press briefing.” width=”720″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/boris-johnson-fears-for-the-security-of-europe-as-tensions-grow-over-potential-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-2.jpg”>
US national security advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily White House press briefing.

Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images

The Foreign Office followed the US in advising against all travel to Ukraine, with a spokesman saying: “The safety and security of British nationals is our top priority, which is why we have updated our travel advice.

“We urge British nationals in Ukraine to leave now via commercial means while they remain available.”

After Johnson and world leaders held the virtual call, a No 10 spokesperson said: “The prime minister told the group that he feared for the security of Europe in the current circumstances.

“He impressed the need for Nato allies to make it absolutely clear that there will be a heavy package of economic sanctions ready to go, should Russia make the devastating and destructive decision to invade Ukraine.

“The prime minister added that president Putin had to understand that there would be severe penalties that would be extremely damaging to Russia’s economy, and that Allies needed to continue with efforts to reinforce and support the Eastern frontiers of Nato.

“He urged the leaders to work together to deliver economic and defensive support to Ukraine.

“The leaders agreed that if president Putin deescalated, there was another way forward, and they pledged to redouble diplomatic efforts in the coming days.”

Speaking from the White House, Sullivan said Russia could choose “in very short order to commence a major military action against Ukraine” but stressed the US does not know whether Putin has made a final decision.

Moscow denies it is planning an invasion and called the Western military actions provocations meant to bait Russia into war.

But diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have yet to yield results.

The two countries share a border, and between 1919 and 1991 Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union in the early-1990s but maintained close economic and cultural links with Russia.

Russia has been trying to reunite with its neighbour even since, with Putin calling the break-up of the Soviet bloc the “greatest geopolitical tragedy of the 20th century”.

It’s not entirely clear why Putin is acting now. There’s speculation he may be moving because the US looks weak following the messy evacuation from Afghanistan.

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