On April 4th, The Times reported that Boris Johnson opposes a negotiated peace in Ukraine. This is the second time the newspaper has published this claim. The first time was on March 31st.
Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the Russia negotiating team, stated yesterday that Kiev and Moscow had reached an understanding on how to provide security guarantees if Ukraine agrees to declare neutrality. Turkey, Poland, Israel, and Italy are expected to be among the third-party guarantors.
However, The Times is reporting that the administration of Boris Johnson believes the rest of NATO is “over-eager” to see the war end. He wants Ukraine to keep fighting until they achieve total victory, reclaim Crimea and the Donbas, and Russian officers face war crimes trials.
If Johnson’s goals are even realistic, it would mean a long protracted war with a massive amount of death still to come. Johnson is expected to tell German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he is doing too little to fight Russia. He wants Scholz to enact harsher sanctions, which could seriously cripple the German economy.
Britain, however, is one of the countries in Europe that is the least harmed by sanctions against Russia. The bulk of their gas and oil comes from Norway. Britain is also isolated from the economic impacts of caring for millions of Ukrainian war refugees by EU nations.
Boris Johnson will urge the German chancellor to go further on Russian sanctions this week amid concerns that Ukraine will be pushed by Nato allies to “settle”.Olaf Scholz is due to make his first visit to London since being appointed chancellor last year and will hold a meeting with Johnson on Friday. The prime minister is expected to tell him to intensify diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Russia.A senior government source told The Times last week there were concerns that allies were “over eager” to secure a peace deal, adding that a settlement should be reached only when Ukraine is in the strongest possible position.
