Boris Johnson To Chair Cobra Meeting As Russian Invasion Of Ukraine Feared “Immediately”
4 min read
The foreign secretary has warned Vladimir Putin could launch an invasion of Ukraine "almost immediately” as she repeated calls for Brits to leave the country.
Boris Johnson spoke to US President Joe Biden this evening ahead of chairing a Cobra meeting on Tuesday. The Prime Minister has cut short a tour of Scotland and the north of England, where he was due to discuss the government's levelling up agenda, in order to address the escalating crisis.
In their call, Johnson and Biden agreed there was still a "crucial window for diplomacy" and urged the Kremlin to "step back from its threats to Ukraine".
However, they reiterated their willingness to take serious action against Russia if it goes ahead with an invasion of its neighbour, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The leaders emphasised that any further incursion into Ukraine would result in a protracted crisis for Russia, with far reaching damage for both Russia and the world," they said in a statement.
“They agreed that western allies must remain united in the face of Russian threats, including imposing a significant package of sanctions should Russian aggression escalate. They also reiterated the need for European countries to reduce their dependence on Russian gas, a move which, more than any other, would strike at the heart of Russia’s strategic interests".
The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson also today indicated Parliament could be recalled from its February recess if Russia begins an invasion this week, but said no talks on the matter with Speaker Lindsay Hoyle had yet taken place.
Following an initial meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee chaired Liz Truss this afternoon, the foreign secretary said the UK is “pursuing the path of diplomacy and de-escalation”.
But she warned that the situation was volatile and could escalate. "We are fully aware that there could be a Russian invasion almost immediately," Truss said. "That is why British citizens do need to leave Ukraine.”
Truss, who also held a call for more than 100 MPs to discuss the deteriorating situation in Ukraine, added that she still hoped a diplomatic solution with Moscow could be reached during meetings involving her and Johnson around Europe this week.
"That is why we are working to persuade the Russians to remove their troops from the border, because a war would be disastrous," she added.
"We are very clear that Russia is the aggressor in this situation. They have 100,000 troops lined up on the Ukrainian borders.
"They need to de-escalate because it will be a cost to Russia if they invade Ukraine, both in terms of the cost of a long-running war, but also the sanctions that we would impose, which would be severe, and would target oligarchs and it would target companies across Russia."
She also said Germany had been "clear" the proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline bringing Russian gas to western Europe would not go ahead if Ukraine was invaded.
"We do need to reduce dependence on Russian gas in Europe and find alternative sources,” Truss added.
Earlier Johnson had said "the world needs to learn the lesson of 2014”, when not enough was done to move away from Russian energy following Putin’s annexation of Crimea.
Meanwhile the first deputy chairman of Russia’s parliamentary committee on international affairs has said his country does not start wars, but it finishes them.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's World At One programme, Vyacheslav Nikonov said Russia has “a history of invasions from the West”, including from Britain, citing the Crimean War.
"This Nato approaching our borders seems very much the same, like Hitler,” he claimed.
“That's how it looks to us. So for us, that's the same sort of challenge. So, we do not want World War Two to repeat.
“Russians do not start wars, Russians finish wars."
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