In a move that heralded a new and impressive decisiveness and speed from the Tory Government in London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson came out swinging against Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The speech from the podium in the House of Commons hearkened back to the fiery words of the ‘Iron Lady’ herself PM Baroness Margaret Thatcher, and Johnson even referred back to the words of Sir Winston Churchill.
Putin’s venture in Ukraine must fail and must be seen to fail.
That will require the perseverance, the unity and the resolve of the entire Western Alliance, and the UK will do everything possible to ensure that that unity is maintained. pic.twitter.com/r1UMw6oTZ2
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) February 22, 2022
The Prime Minister announced that a series of severe economic sanctions, merely the first blow to land, will be targeting the most massive Russian banking institutions: Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank, and the Black Sea Bank. He also announced sanctions against three “very high net worth” individuals: Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg according to NBC.
Boris Johnson Rallies The U.K. To Move On Sanctions And NATO Armament
Johnson reiterated the steps that the UK has taken since the alarm about Russian aggression in Ukraine began to be raised by western intelligence services. He told Parliament,
“Britain has done everything possible to help Ukraine to prepare for another onslaught, training 22,000 soldiers, supplying 2,000 anti-tank missiles, and providing £100 million for economic reform and energy independence, and we will now guarantee up to $500 million of Development Bank financing.
I travelled to Kyiv to meet President Zelenskyy on the 1st February, and I saw him again in Munich on Saturday. I spoke to him last night, soon after Putin’s speech, to assure him, as I’m sure the whole House would agree was the right thing to do, I assured him of Britain’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
British military forces are already deployed in Estonia on the Balkan Sea along Russia’s eastern border near St. Petersburg with the British Army leading the NATO contingent there and Prime Minister Johnson reportedly met with President Levits of Latvia and Prime Minister Kallas of Estonia in Munich and told them more British troops would be on the way should NATO request them.
Johnson spoke sternly and unreservedly and echoed the language of a Britain from its more steadfast and surefooted days. He spoke with a certainty and gravity that hasn’t been felt in the Commons in three generations. Let’s hope that it holds.
“We cannot tell what will happen in the days ahead, but, Mr Speaker, we should steel ourselves for a protracted crisis.
The United Kingdom will meet this challenge side-by-side with our allies, determined that we will not allow Putin to drag our continent back into a Hobbesian state of nature, where aggression pays and might is right.
And it is precisely because the stakes are so high that Putin’s venture in Ukraine must fail, must ultimately fail and be seen to fail. That will require the perseverance, the unity and the resolve of the entire Western alliance, and Britain will do everything possible to ensure that that unity is maintained.
And now our thoughts should turn to our valiant Ukrainian friends, who threaten no-one, and ask for nothing except to live in peace and freedom.
We will keep faith with them in the critical days that lie ahead and whatever happens, Mr Speaker, Britain will not waver in our resolve and I commend this statement to the House.”
While Boris Johnson rallies the British for the “protracted crisis”, the response from the Biden WhiteHouse remains muted, muddled and uncertain.
