The left-wing leader of a rail union in Britain has cited EU influence in Ukraine, as well as the country’s alleged use of “Nazi imagery”, as leading to Russia’s invasion.
Mick Lynch, the head of Britain’s leftist RMT rail union, has cited the increasing influence of the European Union in Ukraine, as well as the prevalence of what he called “Nazi imagery”, as causes for Russia’s invasion of the country.
Lynch has since been accused of peddling “Kremlin propaganda” by Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport, who is currently trying to impose restrictions on the ability of the trade-union leader’s organisation to strike.
In an interview with the New Statesman, Lynch — whose trade union supported Britain leaving the European Union — rejected claims that Brexit negatively affected the EU’s ability to resist the likes of Russia and China.
“The EU also provoked a lot of the trouble in Ukraine,” Lynch reportedly responded, claiming that the country’s Maidan revolt in 2014, which led to regime change in the country, was “all about being pro-EU and all the rest of it”.
“There were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine,” he continued. “And while they were doing that, there were an awful lot of people [in Ukraine] playing with Nazi imagery, and going back to the [Second World] War, and all that.”
“So, it’s not just that this stuff has sprung from one place,” Lynch went on to say.
The trade union leader also said that he thought that the Western narrative on Communist China was exaggerated, responding to a question regarding the use of Uyghur slave labour in China by saying that “slave labour is happening in Leicester“.
“We should stop being so belligerent towards countries,” he said.
Lynch’s comments have been met with outrage from those within the British government, with the country’s transport tsar, Grant Shapps, saying that the RMT rail union leader has “taken leave of [his] senses”.
Shapps, who has promised to implement “reforms” that will clamp down on the ability for unions to strike, also attacked Lynch for his alleged “peddling of Kremlin propaganda” before claiming that the “union mask has well and truly slipped”.
“We must make union barons think twice before wielding the strike weapon — and complete Margaret Thatcher’s unfinished business,” the government minister previously declared while sharing an op-ed he wrote on social media.
“I’m looking at banning strikes by different unions in the same workplace within a set period,” he wrote in the article. “We should also place an absolute limit of six pickets at points of Critical National Infrastructure, irrespective of the number of unions involved, and outlaw intimidatory language”.