UK’s Johnson says West must not ‘normalize’ ties with Russia
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the West against “renormalizing” ties with Russia, which he accuses of attacking civilians in Ukraine.
Johnson labeled Russia’s military operation in Ukraine “a vicious and a barbarian attack on innocent civilians, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1940s.”
“To try to renormalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake again, and that is why Putin must fail,” he said, referring to the beginning of Ukraine’s conflict in 2014.
At the time, then Ukrainian territory of Crimea voted in a referendum to rejoin the Russian Federation. Kiev refused to recognize the referendum results, and later imposed sanctions on Moscow. It claimed Russia had a role in the conflict that erupted in the Donbass region between Ukrainian government forces and ethnic Russians.
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the two regions in eastern Ukraine as independent republics. Days later, on February 24, he order the launch of the military operation to “defend people” in the region against Ukrainian government forces. He said Moscow has “no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.”
The British prime minister said some Western governments “say that we’re better off making accommodations with tyranny.”
“I believe they are profoundly wrong and to try to renormalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake,” Johnson said.
Russia and Ukraine have held several rounds of negotiations since the beginning of the operation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the Russians are sounding “more realistic,” while the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, says the talks are “close to agreeing” acceptable terms for a future Ukrainian neutrality.
Lavrov said on Friday that Russia was not “closing the door on the West” but when tension calms down and the Western governments “come back to their senses… we will be going into cooperation with them knowing very well that we cannot be sure that they are reliable.”
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