Intensify sanctions until Putin’s troops leave Ukraine, says PM

B oris Johnson has said sanctions against Russia should be intensified “until every single one” of Vladimir Putin’s troops leaves Ukraine.

The Prime Minister made the call on Wednesday as he warned that allies in the West must not “backslide” on sanctions imposed on Mr Putin’s regime to force it to end his invasion of Ukraine.

Instead, he called for the economic measures against the Kremlin to be “ratcheted up” and for more military support to be provided to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s government.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, he also emphasised that no sanctions should be lifted just because Mr Putin agrees to a ceasefire.

He was responding to former army officer Johnny Mercer, Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View who praised the “extraordinary courage and commitment” of the Ukrainian people in defending their country, “aided and abetted” by lethal aid from Britain.

He stressed that Mr Johnson had been “first out the door” to agree to deliver military support to Ukraine, with thousands of missiles including anti-tank weapons having been sent.

Mr Mercer added: “Whilst others may now begin to tire, now is actually the time to double down on the aid that we give to Ukraine.

“Actually we might end up breaking a pretty poor Russian army and bring peace to that part of the world while consigning the likes of Vladimir Putin to the dustbin of history where he belongs.”

Mr Johnson replied: “It’s right that we should double down on military, defensive support in the way that we are.

“We will also make sure that there is no backsliding on sanctions by any of our friends and partners around the world.

“In fact we need to ratchet up the economic pressure on Vladimir Putin and it’s certainly inconceivable that any sanctions could be taken off simply because there is ceasefire.

“That would be absolutely unthinkable in my view.”

Later on Wednesday, Mr Johnson doubled down on his call to keep the pressure on Mr Putin as he was grilled by MPs on the liaison committee.

“In my view, we should continue to intensify sanctions with a rolling programme until every single one of his troops is out of Ukraine,” he said.

Asked if that included Crimea, he added: “As I said, every single one of these troops is out of Ukraine.”

Mr Johnson was then asked if this would include Georgia, parts of which have been occupied since 2008, by fellow Tory MP Tom Tugendhat.

He said: “I think that we need to to have a total rethink about all the support that we offer countries such as Georgia and Ukraine.”

Rather than offering them full Nato membership, the West should instead change the “security architecture” by arming those countries so heavily that Russia would not invade, he said.

Mr Johnson also warned that the Russian President is “plainly not to be trusted” and that any ceasefire would “go straight into Putin’s playbook”.

Just days ago, Mr Zelensky hailed Britain for being “definitely on our side” and voiced frustration at some countries in the West, including Germany and France, for not taking a tougher stance against Mr Putin.

He raised concerns that Germany was trying to take a more balanced approach to Russia due to its deeper economic ties with Moscow, and claimed France was against supplying tanks to Ukraine because “they are afraid of Russia”.