UK PM Johnson ‘deeply’ cynical about Putin’s assurances
Negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin does not seem to be “full of promise,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday, adding that Putin could not be trusted in his view.
“I am deeply, deeply sceptical and cynical about his (Putin’s) assurances,” Johnson told reporters after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over the war in Ukraine.
UK to send Ukraine more anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles
Britain is sending Ukraine more Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles and 800 anti-tank missiles after an “unconscionable” attack on a train station, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday.
The supplies of the “high-grade military equipment” are worth £100 million ($130 million, 120 million euros), Johnson said.
The attack at Kramatorsk “shows the depths to which (Vladimir) Putin’s once-vaunted army has sunk”, he told reporters alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said the Russian strike was “atrocious”.
Scholz also defended Germany against criticism that it is dragging its feet on ending Russian energy imports as part of Western sanctions over Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We are doing all we can and we are doing a lot,” the chancellor said, pointing to Germany’s long-term diversification to alternative energy and other suppliers for natural gas.
After talks with Scholz in Downing Street, Johnson said Britain and Germany would work together on renewable technologies.
“We cannot transform our energy systems overnight, but we also know that Putin’s war will not end overnight,” the prime minister said.
