London Thanasis Gavos
The answer to the question why Putin chose to invade Ukraine now was given by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson in his speech at which he closed the spring congress of the Conservative Party in Blackpool.
In essence, he assessed that the Russian President fears the possibility of an uprising in his country while the surrounding countries are democratizing.
“He did not really believe that Ukraine would join NATO at some point soon, he knew full well that there was no plan for missiles to enter Ukrainian territory. “He did not really believe the semi-occult stalks he wrote about the origins of the Russian people.”
That was not the case – I think he was afraid of Ukraine for a completely different reason. He feared freedom of information, free elections in Ukraine. With each passing year, Ukraine did not always move easily towards freedom and democracy and open markets, it feared the Ukrainian example and feared indirect disapproval of it.
“Because in Putin’s Russia you go to jail for 15 years just by calling the invasion an invasion and if you go to the polls against him you are poisoned or shot. “It’s precisely because Ukraine and Russia are so historically close that they have been terrified of the effects of the Ukrainian model on themselves and on Russia.”
Mr Johnson added that in the event of a victory in Ukraine, Putin would have ambitions for both Georgia and Moldova. “It will mark the beginning of a new era of intimidation in Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the Black Sea,” he said.
A victory for Putin, he added, would give the green light to other authoritarian leaders, making the invasion of Ukraine a “turning point” for the world: “It’s a moment of choice. It’s a choice between freedom and oppression. “
The British Prime Minister said he was proud of the sanctions imposed by his government on the circle of Vladimir Putin and reiterated that there must be independence from Russian oil and gas.
Speaking at a rally against other Western governments, which he said called for a realpolitik, Boris Johnson said: “A normalization of relations with Putin after the invasion as we did in 2014 would be a repetition of exactly the same mistake.”
Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Ben Wallace had said that with his threats, the Russian president had made it clear that he was a danger “to all of us.”
He also accused Putin of “arrogance”, noting that it was directly responsible for the losses of Russian forces and their damage.
“In the Kremlin they assumed that the Ukrainians would not fight. They were wrong. In the Kremlin they assumed that their army was invincible. They were wrong. They assumed that the international community would crumble. “And they turned out to be wrong,” said Mr. Wallace.
He also stressed that more defense weapons are being sent to the Ukrainians and that all allies have strengthened NATO’s Eastern Wing.
Speaking at the conference, Foreign Minister Liz Tras said Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “shattered our post-Cold War complacency.”
He added that Britain could not and would not calm down until Ukraine’s sovereignty was restored.
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