Very busy saving his mandate as prime minister threatened by the “partygate”, these parties organized in Downing Street during the lockdown, Boris Johnson had so far been discreet on the international scene. He intends to catch up. After a short stopover in Kiev, the 1er february, in order to assure President Volodymyr Zelensky of the United Kingdom’s support in the face of the aggressiveness of its Russian neighbor, he was to hold talks on Thursday 10 February with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, then with Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.
Keir Starmer, the leader of the British Labour opposition, will also make the trip to Brussels to meet separately with Mr Stoltenberg on Thursday: a way to show the united front of the United Kingdom in the Ukrainian crisis – at the same time as his ambition to lead, one day, the country. On the same day, the British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, meanwhile, was to see the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, before giving way to her colleague Ben Wallace, minister of defense, who will meet his Russian counterpart on Friday. “They will insist that the only possible way for Moscow is to end its aggressive hybrid war campaign and engage in serious discussions”, Downing Street said on Wednesday evening.
Mr Johnson, who, like US President Joe Biden, holds a hard line once morest the Kremlin, should make himself available to NATO and its allies 1,000 more British troops ready to step in “in the event of a humanitarian crisis”, and invite its international partners to “demonstrate solidarity with NATO allies threatened by Russian aggression”. London has already announced the dispatch of 350 members of the Royal Marines and proposed the deployment of Royal Air Force fighter jets to Southern Europe and Royal Navy buildings (air defense and patrol boats) in the eastern Mediterranean.
“When NATO was founded, the Allies made a historic commitment to preserve the freedom of each of its members. The United Kingdom maintains its unwavering commitment to European security, said the British leader before his departure. We need real diplomacy, not coercion diplomacy. The Alliance must draw a line in the snow and not compromise on its principles. The latter include the security of every NATO ally and the right for all European democracies to aspire to become a member of the Atlantic Alliance. »
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