Boris Johnson has urged other world leaders to stand firm in their long-term support for Ukraine, amid growing concern in Downing Street that some countries may be influenced by calls in Kyiv to cede territory to Russia in exchange for pau.
Arriving at the G7 summit in southern Germany, while his internal political problems continued to turn, Johnson used a series of bilateral meetings and television interviews to present himself as a bulwark against a possible setback for the US and other states. westerners.
The prime minister even connected the two situations, telling CNN that Vladimir Putin would not have been able to invade a sovereign neighbor if he also had “a committee of back bankers” who threatened to dismiss him for any mistakes.
Presenting his key message for the G7 meeting, which he will reiterate later this week at a NATO summit in Madrid, Johnson said the financial cost of long-standing support in Ukraine was “a price worth paying for democracy and freedom. “
“I would just tell the people of the United States that this is something that the United States has historically done and must do,” he said. The global consequences of letting Russia prevail, Johnson added, would be “absolutely catastrophic.”
Speaking to reporters at the annual G7 meeting, held amid tight security in the Bavarian camp, Johnson warned of the inevitable “fatigue of populations and politicians” as the conflict dragged on.
“I think the pressure is there and the anxiety is there. We have to be honest about it,” he said.
While Downing Street stressed that it has yet to detect any G7 leaders trying to push Ukraine to accept a humiliating peace, in which Russia would maintain control of the eastern regions captured since February, this is a growing concern.
A Downing Street source said the sense of unity at the summit on Ukraine appeared to be bolstered by Sunday’s Russian missile attack on civilian targets in Kyiv. “It hardened the decision,” they said. “There is a very strong sense of shared purpose.”
Johnson also said he would be very happy to welcome Volodymyr Zelenskiy if it were possible to visit London, although he admitted it seemed unlikely. The Ukrainian president is due to appear virtually at both the G7 and NATO summits.
One leader with whom Johnson was not expected to have a meeting at the summit was U.S. President Joe Biden with No. 10 insisting that this was due solely to mutual programming issues and not to a disdain. .
His agenda on Sunday led him to hold individual talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Ukraine playing a central role in all talks.
Johnson and Trudeau even began their conversations with a mocking reference to Putin’s penchant for official ultra-sexist, topless photographs. A suggestion to take off the jackets in the heat led Trudeau to jokingly suggest “a bare-chested horseback ride,” while Johnson said they could “show our chests.”
While the UK and France have not always agreed on the Ukraine issue, Downing Street insisted on Sunday that Johnson and Macron were in full agreement.
Johnson’s official spokesman said that while the UK relied on a strong post-G7 summit message on Ukraine, it was nevertheless the case that world leaders could be increasingly influenced by thoughts. to push Zelenskiy to accept a Russian peace deal.
“You can understand why people who feel the challenges of this global cost-of-living crisis might wonder why countries spend so much time on this issue,” he said.
In what could be seen as a one-time omission, asked just before a bilateral meeting with Macron about whether France and Germany were doing enough with Ukraine, Johnson only mentioned the German answer.
“I never believed in my life that I would see a German chancellor advancing like Olaf Scholz and sending weapons to help Ukrainians protect themselves,” he said.
“It has made great, great advances. We have 4% of our gas coming from Russia; in Germany, it is 40%. They are facing real, real pressures, they have to get energy from other places. But they are doing it. .They are making the effort.They are making the sacrifice.This is because they see that it is worth paying the price of freedom.
“This is something that is worth defending together. And that is the principle that a free and independent sovereign country like Ukraine should not be violently invaded and should not change its boundaries by force.”
Johnson tried to dodge any new controversy, with the UK’s official reading of the meeting with Macron not to mention his discussion of the French president’s plans for a “European political community” backed by non-member nations, including potentially the United Kingdom.
French officials, on the other hand, said Johnson had shown “great enthusiasm” for the idea, although No. 10 stressed that this could only be the case if the still-nascent plan did not include elements of freedom of movement, such as as posed.
Similarly, while Johnson used the CNN interview to underscore the need for democracy, he declined to comment on ongoing U.S. hearings on the January Capitol attack by supporters of the former president. Donald Trump, saying, “In principle we should not talk. About the domestic politics of others.”
Johnson came to the talks from Rwanda, where he had participated in a Commonwealth summit, part of a nine-day trip abroad that takes him away from an increasingly turbulent political situation at home.
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