UK avoided arming Ukrainians for fear of angering Putin, former ministers said
The UK Government has avoided sending arms to Ukraine for the last seven hears out of fear of angering President Putin, the Sunday Times reported today.
Former ministers said Boris Johnson and his two predecessors, Theresa May and David Cameron, have maintained a line of “appeasement” with Moscow since the country’s invasion of Crimea.
“Some in the cabinet felt extremely strongly that we should do nothing to further provoke Russia,” said former minister Michael Fallon, while recalling his time under David Cameron’s mandate as PM.
“I felt that was absurd. The Russians didn’t need any provoking. They were already there, sending people across the border.”
During his recent trip to Ukraine, current Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukrainian President Zelensky the UK would continue to assist the Ukrainian people in their fight against Moscow.
“We will give you the support that you need: economic support but also, of course, the defensive military support in which I am proud to say that the UK helped to lead the way,” he said during a press conference.
Yet, when he was foreign secretary, Johnson sought to normalise relations between London and Moscow, agreeing to send only non-lethal equipment to Kiev, the outlet reported.
The normalisation of relations has continued over the last few years, despite parliamentary outcry. In 2018 and 2020 two parliamentary enquiries called for sanctions to be imposed on Russian oligarchs, but fell to deaf on ears by the May and Jonson’s governments.
According to different ministers, the reasons behind the lack of action were a mixture of the tight relationship between Russian oligarchs, London and the Conservative party as well as a a genuine fear of provoking the Kremlin and the impact it could have on international security.
“After the [invasion of] Crimea in 2014 he was able to act with complete impunity; he was able to act with complete impunity over the [Salisbury attack],” said Sir Gerald Howarth, a former minister for international strategy, told the Sunday Times.