PM call with President Zelenskyy: 26 February 2022

Press release

Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy this evening.

The Prime Minister spoke to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy this evening.

He paid tribute to the incredible heroism and bravery of President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people. The leaders agreed that President Putin is being met with a greater Ukrainian resistance than he calculated on.

The Prime Minister updated on the UK’s support to Ukraine and the progress rallying international partners to hold Russia to account for their campaign of destruction.

The leaders agreed on the need for the international community to isolate Russia completely diplomatically and financially. They welcomed the increased willingness to take action on excluding Russia from SWIFT.

The Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy expressed their mutual concern about the role Belarus is playing as a conduit for President Putin’s violence.

Published 26 February 2022



UK forces arrive to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank

Royal Navy ships, British Army troops, and Royal Air force fighters are arriving on new deployments in eastern Europe to bolster NATO’s eastern front.

HMS Trent is in the eastern Mediterranean, conducting NATO exercises with Merlin Helicopters and RAF P8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft. They will be shortly joined by HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, which set sail from Portsmouth yesterday.

Challenger 2 tanks and armoured vehicles of the Royal Welsh battlegroup have arrived in Estonia from Germany, with further equipment and around 1000 troops arriving over the coming days. This will lead to a doubling of the UK presence in Estonia, where the UK leads a NATO battlegroup as part of the Alliance’s enhanced Forward Presence.

RAF Typhoon fighter jets have already completed their first air policing missions across the region, with an additional four aircraft based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Typhoons flying from bases in Cyprus and the UK are now patrolling NATO airspace over Romania and Poland alongside NATO allies with Voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft in support.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace MP said:

“Our armed forces are once again being called upon in the service of our Nation and I salute the bravery and sense of duty shared by all our personnel who have been deployed to support NATO.

“Alongside our NATO Allies, these deployments constitute a credible deterrent to stop Russian aggression threatening the territorial sovereignty of member states.”

Yesterday, the Defence Secretary held a virtual donor conference with more than 25 countries, including the US and Canada and some countries outside NATO, coordinating their support to Ukraine. They will continue to give humanitarian and military support, which includes ammunition and anti-tank weapons, and the UK has offered to conduct logistics operations to support the delivery of donations.

NATO Allies are united in response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and are collectively taking a range of measures to protect their security and deter further aggression. At a meeting of NATO Heads of State and government yesterday (25 February), all 30 member nations agreed that:

“We will make all deployments necessary to ensure strong and credible deterrence and defence across the Alliance, now and in the future. Our measures are and remain preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory.”



UK Government sanctions Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov

Press release

President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be hit with an assets freeze as part of the UK’s punitive sanctions regime to degrade Russia’s economy and military infrastructure.

  • President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assets frozen in latest wave of UK’s punishing sanctions regime
  • Both blocked from any future business in UK
  • Truss: “These new sanctions send a clear message that nothing and no one is off the table.”
  • Hitting top of Russia’s government part of co-ordinated campaign by allies to degrade Russian economy following invasion of Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be hit with an assets freeze as part of the UK’s punitive sanctions regime to degrade Russia’s economy and military infrastructure.

In a third wave of punishing sanctions in just four days, the UK’s sanctions have been strategically coordinated with international allies to impose a severe cost on Putin and his regime.

The new sanctions, which are targeted personally at Putin and Lavrov, will see any UK-based assets frozen immediately and UK companies will be barred from providing goods, services or assets to them in future.

The Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said:

These new sanctions send a clear message that nothing and no one is off the table. These measures reflect the horror and gravity of what Putin and his regime has done, violating the territorial integrity of a sovereign nation with an illegal and unjustified invasion.

Today’s announcement follows a sweeping package of financial sanctions targeting Russian banks, oligarchs and key strategic businesses, as well as territorial sanctions and restrictions on sovereign debt announced on Tuesday.

Previous sanctions announced as part of the UK package include:

  • Assets of all Russian banks frozen including, a full asset freeze on VTB. Co-ordinated with the US, this is the single biggest financial sanction in history. Individuals and companies whose assets are frozen will be unable to undertake any business in the UK or with UK nationals.
  • Russian companies will be prevented from borrowing on the UK markets, effectively ending the ability of those companies closest to Putin to raise finance in the UK. This is in addition to banning the Russian state itself from raising funds in the UK, as previously announced.
  • Designated banks will be prevented from accessing Sterling and clearing payments through the UK. Banks subject to this measure will be unable to process any payments through the UK or have access to UK financial markets. A full list of previous sanctions here.
  • A ban on the export of a range of high-end and critical technical equipment and components in sectors including electronics, telecommunications, and aerospace.

Published 25 February 2022



Russia has no support for the invasion of Ukraine: UK statement at Security Council vote

The UN Charter begins with the solemn invocation to peace:

“We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save successive generations from the scourge of war.”

That conviction has been the touchstone of the work in this Chamber since 1945.

We must not forget that our fundamental purpose here is to protect people and their futures.

To protect people from violence and conflict that destroys lives.

As we speak, women and children in Kyiv, young families in Odessa, pensioners in Kharkiv, and civilians all over Ukraine, are sheltering from Russia’s military onslaught.

First, Russia claimed this was all Western hysteria.

Then, they said it was about Donetsk and Luhansk.

Now, they are bombing Kyiv.

We have seen dreadful images of Russian tanks crushing civilians in the Ukrainian capital.

A country of 44 million people is being attacked on all fronts.

Colleagues,

The resolution we are voting on today is a message to those people: that the world is on your side and stands with the Ukrainian people.

It’s a message to the world: that the rules we built together must be defended. Because otherwise, who might be next?

It’s a message to Russia as well.

To the brave Russian citizens who are protesting a war they do not want.

This resolution demands an end to this war.

Colleagues,

President Putin has launched a massive invasion of Ukraine. His aim is to remove its government and subjugate its people.

No fog of war is thick enough to obscure a truth this clear.

This is not self-defence under Article 51.

It is naked aggression.

It is an unprovoked, unjustified war, and this Council must condemn it.

Thank you.

Colleagues,

A large majority of the Council has just voted in favour of a resolution aimed at stopping war.

The resolution has not been adopted only because of the single veto of the permanent member of this Council who is perpetrating that conflict.

Russia claims that its invasion of Ukraine is in self-defence. This is absurd.

Russia’s only act of self-defence is the vote they have cast against this resolution today.

Make no mistake: Russia is isolated.

It has no support for the invasion of Ukraine.

History will record how we voted today and which countries stood up to be counted in defence of the Charter and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The United Kingdom stands steadfast in support of the Ukrainian people and will hold Russia accountable for its aggression.

Thank you.



PM call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: 25 February 2022

Press release

Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this evening.

The Prime Minister spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this evening to discuss how western allies could further ratchet up pressure on the Russian regime.

The Prime Minister thanked the Canadian leader for his diplomatic efforts and coordination with allies on sanctions, and said the UK and Canada held a shared ambition in ensuring President Putin failed and was seen to fail.

The Prime Minister said allies needed to take immediate action on SWIFT, and the leaders discussed further options to increase coordinated economic pressure on Russia.

The world also needs to remain vigilant to potential for the Russian regime to further exploit vulnerabilities in other countries too, the leaders agreed.

Both leaders said President Putin’s attack on Ukraine was an attack on democracies everywhere, and the world needed to stand together and support the Ukrainians in any way possible in their hour of need.

Published 25 February 2022