UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the West must not try to ‘normalize relations’ with Russian President Vladimir Putin following his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, as reported by Radio Liberty, quoting Johnson's speech at Conservative party conference on 19 March.
"I know there are some around the world, even in some western governments … who say that we’re better off making accommodations with tyranny. I believe they are profoundly wrong,” he said in his speech in Blackpool.
“Trying to renormalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake, and that is why Putin must fail.
This is a turning point for the world, and it is a moment of choice. It is a choice between freedom and oppression,” Jonson said.
The prime minister’s remarks came as British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told The Times that the Kremlin appeared to be using peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv as a “smoke screen” for more extreme Russian military actions.
“I’m very skeptical,” Truss said in an interview. “What we have seen is an attempt to create space for the Russians to regroup. Their invasion is not going according to plan.”
“I fear the negotiation is yet another attempt to create a diversion and create a smokescreen. I don’t think we are yet at a point for negotiation,” she added.
Earlier the president Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed out that priorities of the Ukrainian delegation at negotiations with Russia are, first of all, the end of war and restoration of territorial integrity of our country.