Former PM already sees (only) end to war and gives up hope
Vladimir Putin always knew that Ukraine was not going to join NATO, that there was no danger of placing American missiles on Ukrainian territory, and even that Kyiv did not pose any threat to Moscow. The guarantee was left by the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, who recounted his conversation with the Russian president, in which he understood the true motivation for the war in Ukraine: “It was about being the new Pedro the Great,” the tsar who managed to create a powerful Russian empire , which fell apart only in the 20th century with the advent of the Bolsheviks.
Speaking in Lisbon, where the British were invited by CNN Portugal, on the occasion of the channel’s first anniversary, Boris Johnson explained that he said all this to Vladimir Putin, saying that the Russian president understood and even agreed with the arguments of the West.
“Then I realized that the motives were not about Ukraine. It was about him and the role he sees as a man who is going to restore the Soviet empire, about becoming the new Peter the Great. He invaded Ukraine because he thought it would make him more popular, because he was deluded and because he had no one to oppose,” Boris Johnson said, referring even to “stupid Orthodox priest-type advisers.” who advise the top face of the Kremlin. and who told you that Ukraine is not an independent country.
The former British prime minister called it Vladimir Putin’s mistake: to think that a country that has been independent for 31 years and whose national feelings have been strengthened with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 is actually not so.
Therefore, according to Boris Johnson, Europe must remain even more united in support of Ukraine, even if the crisis caused by the war increases the criticism of the population. It’s just that for the British, the heroes whose names are carved on the Maidan in Kyiv deserve it, they deserve peace. But not at any cost.
While he understands the fears of Europeans when winter comes and prices continue to rise – inflation in Portugal is around 10%, the figure even predicted by Boris Johnson could be higher in the United Kingdom – the Brit does not want a “rotten” world. , a peace concluded in accordance with the requirements of Moscow. Especially when Russia illegally annexed four regions of Ukraine (Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Lugansk).
“When we dine, thousands of Europeans are left without light, heat and water due to hundreds of attacks in a cynical attempt to dampen morale. [dos ucranianos]🇧🇷 As the cold intensifies, the suffering will increase,” he added, speaking of a world “shocked by the cost of living”, but which should not stop supporting Ukrainians both politically and militarily: more tanks, more missiles, more HIMARS systems.
And from there came gratitude to António Costa and the Portuguese government “for what they are doing”, saying that the two countries are “side by side”, to achieve the goal and the only “possible and tolerable goal”: “for Putin to fail and Ukraine to win “.
“Ukrainians want peace, I know that Zelensky would make a deal if he could, but of course Putin cannot be trusted,” he said, refusing, as the Ukrainian president did, a scenario of an agreement in which Ukraine renounces its earth. achieve peace.
“How can we negotiate with a crocodile when it bites our legs and its goal is to devour our entire body?” Boris Johnson asks, saying that the role of the West is to support Ukraine, support that he understands should be doubled. If only because, according to him, if we provide all the necessary technologies, the Ukrainians will do the rest, because “they have the leadership and courage” to drive the Russians from all the lost lands.
Fear of nuclear and post-war
One of the biggest fears is that a Ukrainian victory could spark a nuclear war. Let Vladimir Putin use the most powerful arsenal to decisively attack Kyiv and other cities under the slogan that Russian sovereignty is at stake.
Boris Johnson does not believe in this scenario, arguing that Vladimir Putin knows that from now on he will lose all the support or connivance that he has, namely from countries such as China or India, as well as from Africa or South America. . And this idea of the Russian president goes further: “he knows that he will terrorize his own population, that he will put Russia in complete isolation, for decades of poverty.”
Something that Boris Johnson thinks is already happening. The British said that Russia had already lost more soldiers in Ukraine than in ten years of “occupation” of Afghanistan. “It won’t take long to overcome US losses in 15 years in Vietnam,” he also said, referring to Russian troops practicing war crimes such as “constant rape, torture rooms or traps,” which has led and still leads to the death of tens of thousands of civilians scattered in schools, kindergartens or hospitals.
By envisioning what he says is the only possible future, and by looking at the energy transition the war has accelerated, Boris Johnson left a message of hope: “when Putin leaves Ukraine, the world will be an incomparably better place.”
