Prime Minister of United Kingdom Discusses Issue of Ukraine with President of Russia

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson held a conversation with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin ahead of the COP26 Summit. This was reported by the press service of the Government of the United Kingdom and the press service of the Kremlin.

Politicians, in particular, touched upon the issue of the war in Ukraine and the occupation of Ukrainian territories. At the same time, the Head of the British Government pointed out the importance of respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“The Prime Minister was clear that the UK’s current relationship with Russia is not the one we want. He said significant bilateral difficulties remain, including the poisonings in Salisbury in 2018,” reads the statement by the UK’s Government.

At the same time, it is once again emphasised on the Kremlin’s website that the war in Donbas is a “domestic conflict of Ukraine.” It is also stated that “Putin described in detail Russia’s approach to a settlement with the unconditional implementation of the Minsk agreements.”

In addition, Johnson said that fellow permanent members of the UN Security Council and major world economies, the UK and Russia have a responsibility to work together to tackle shared challenges like climate change and safeguard international agreements like the Iran Nuclear Deal.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom also said in a conversation with the President of Russia that relations between the two countries remained difficult, in particular, due to the poisoning of former military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

As a reminder, at a meeting in New York in September, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson discussed steps to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The media recently reported that Kyiv and London were in talks on the purchase of Brimstone guided missiles, in particular, the sale of surface-to-surface missiles for Ukrainian patrol boats and air-to-surface missiles for aircraft.

In response to this information, the Russian embassy called on London not to supply weapons to Ukraine, using the standard theses of Russian propaganda about the “civil war” and “coup d’etat” in Ukraine. Russian diplomats also called the strengthening of Kyiv’s defence capabilities “military adventures” that could lead to “the suffering of civilians.”

Bohdan Marusyak