Prime Minister Boris Johnson flew to Ukraine to hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky just one day after the release of the “partygate” report into alleged breaches of lockdown rules in Number 10 Downing Street.
In an apparent attempt to reset the narrative after civil servant Sue Gray accused the government of “serious failures” in abiding by its own lockdown rules, Mr Johnson has put himself in the middle of the brewing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Johnson arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon and was received with a military guard of honour from the Ukrainian state. It appears likely that the United Kingdom, Poland, and Ukraine are to announce a trilateral pact, with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmygal saying the agreement came in the context of “ongoing Russian aggression”.
The trilateral document between the nations, he said, would “strengthen regional security”. Speaking at the same press conference with the Ukrainian leader, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said his nation would supply Ukraine with arms and humanitarian aid, while calling on Germany not to increase its energy dependence on Russia by opening the Nordstream 2 pipeline, Reuters reports.
The United Kingdom has already agreed to join a defence collaboration with Poland and Ukraine last year, with sales of warships and missiles central to the UK’s involvement.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) attends a bilateral meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Presidential Palace, in Kyiv on February 1, 2022. – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 1, 2022 said Western military and diplomatic support had reached it highest level since the year Crimea was annexed, as fears swirl over a potential Russian invasion. (Photo by PETER NICHOLLS / POOL / AFP) (Photo by PETER NICHOLLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The appearance of the UK’s Boris Johnson in Ukraine comes just 24 hours after he reportedly missed a scheduled phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss regional developments, The Telegraph reports. Instead, the PM addressed the House of Commons on Monday following the release of the redacted partygate report.
Mr Johnson, who has often tried to cast himself as a Churchillian leader, said on Monday that Putin should “step back from the brink” of a possible incursion into Ukraine.
“I think that an invasion of Ukraine, any incursion into Ukraine beyond the territory that Russia has already taken in 2014 would be an absolute disaster for the world, and above all it would be a disaster for Russia,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UK has warned the Kremlin that should it press ahead with an invasion of Ukraine, the government will look to target the assets of Russian oligarchs in Britain, with proposed legislation from Foreign Secretary Liz Truss seeking to empower the government to target individuals and businesses of economic or strategic significance to the Russian state.
“Any company of interest to the Kremlin and the regime in Russia would be able to be targeted, so there will be nowhere to hide for Putin’s oligarchs, for Russian companies involved in propping up the Russian state.”
When pressed if the sanctions would include the seizure of properties of oligarchs, who own at least £1 billion in real estate in the London area, alone, Truss said that “nothing is off the table”.
Despite his tough rhetoric from Mr Johnson’s government, the domestic distractions have seen other European leaders, including Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and French President Emmanuel Macron step into the breach to hold talks with Mr Putin.
In a statement, the Kremlin said that Macron and Putin “expressed their views on the situation regarding Ukraine as well as issues related to providing Russia with long-term and legally-binding security guarantees.”
Mr Orbán, for his part, met with the Russian president on Tuesday to discuss the rising cost of gas in Europe.
So far, Mr Johnson has been able to withstand the pressure from all major political parties in Britain, including his own, to resign.
However, the partygate scandal is likely to continue as a significant controversy as the Metropolitan Police is currently conducting an investigation of its own into the boozy parties held in Downing Street while the rest of the nation was under lockdown.
The Met has confirmed that it has acquired more than 300 images and over 500 pages of information on alleged breaches of lockdown.
The leader of the Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg attempted to put a positive spin on the situation, saying: “So many people voted personally for Boris Johnson rather than voting for political parties.
“Politicians have to accept that our bosses are the British people, and they voted for that, they put him in office.”
Yet, former Brexit Minister David Davis has reiterated his call for the PM to resign on Tuesday morning, warning that the “death of a thousand cuts” will only serve to dismantle the Conservative Party’s large majority won in 2019.
“But if he if he waits and we go through the agony of a confidence vote, whichever way it turns out, his whole historic reputation will be trashed,” the Conservative MP told GB News.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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