Britain has dismissed Vladimir Putin’s threat for a war on Europe – after the Russian president failed to negotiate a ceasefire plan that suits him – as the ‘same old sabre-rattling’.
Asked if the country is prepared for a Russian attack, health secretary, Wes Streeting, admitted that the warning is taken ‘seriously’.
But he told Sky News: ‘I think we should see this for what it is, which is the same old sabre rattling we have heard from president Putin.
‘And the the irony of President Putin talking about warmongering on the part of European leaders would be laughable if what he’s doing in Ukraine weren’t so serious.’
Streeting said it is fair to say that Labour had ‘inherited our armed forces in a condition that we would rather not have received’ but that the government is ‘prioritising investment in defence’.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer said the UK would continue work to ‘put pressure on in every conceivable way’, including by ‘doing as much damage to the Russian economy as we can’ through sanctions.
‘We all know that Putin is dragging his feet, not wanting to come to the table, not wanting to reach an agreement,’ he told the Commons.
‘We have to continue to put pressure on in every conceivable way. That is in supporting Ukraine with capability and resource, but also ensuring that our sanctions, acting with allies, do as much damage to the economy in Russia as we can, and pressure that we can put on, will continue to do so, but he’s absolutely right to raise it.’
This comes after the talks between Putin and US representatives, which include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, lasted for more than four hours – to little avail, it seems.
Before their meeting had even started, the warlord warned that European powers were making demands on a possible peace settlement for Ukraine that he considers absolutely unacceptable.
‘The question is: if Europe starts a war with us, I believe that very quickly… this is not Ukraine,’ he said.
‘With Ukraine, we act in a surgical, careful way, you understand, right? It is not war in the full, modern sense of the word. If Europe chooses to start a war, the situation can very quickly reach a point where there will be no one left for us to negotiate with.’
His comments came before Witkoff and Kushner landed in Moscow.
Yuri Ushakov, a top Putin official, told reporters following the meeting that the talks were ‘constructive, very useful and substantive’ but added that a compromise to the lingering territorial issues in Ukraine wasn’t found.
He said: ‘The territorial issue, naturally, is the most important for us, and for the Americans too. A compromise option has not yet been found, but some American developments look more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed.’
