PM call with NATO leaders: 25 February 2022

The Prime Minister addressed a NATO leaders meeting this afternoon, to update allies on the UK’s next steps following the appalling bombardment of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister told the group that a catastrophe was engulfing Ukraine, and President Putin was engaging in a revanchist mission to over-turn post-Cold War order. He warned the group that the Russian President’s ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences.

The Prime Minister urged leaders to take immediate action against SWIFT to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime. The UK would introduce sanctions against President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov imminently, on top of the sanctions package the UK announced yesterday, he said.

The Prime Minister added that the world must make certain President Putin would fail in this act of aggression. Ukraine was showing strong resistance. He added that there could be no normalisation of relations with Russia after this act.

The Prime Minister outlined details of the UK’s new offer to NATO across its eastern flank. The UK stood ready for any further request from NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe to go further with military support to NATO from UK Armed Forces, he said.

NATO should have primacy in the future of European security and it was vital that it was strengthened now, the Prime Minister added.