Thread by @antoguerrera

EXCLUSIVE. Boris Johnson: How to avoid a nuclear disaster in Ukraine and why "Putin is in a cul-de-sac"

A long interview on Moscow's aggression, how to deal with the Russian President and the unity of the West, despite Brexit - @repubblica

repubblica.it/esteri/2022/03…

PM: “An attack on a nuclear power plant or an explosion are clearly a matter of our common European health and safety. We remember what happened with Chernobyl, the radioactive clouds spread over the whole continent, and indeed, also to North America. There is clearly a risk.”

PM: “There are other Ukrainian plants and radioactive nuclear waste sites. We need to consider is how we're going to work together to prevent such a disaster. I don't think the answers are easy, but UN and the IAEA on the ground", he invokes, "are going to be extremely important”

PM Johnson on Putin: “He underestimated badly the willingness of the Ukrainians to fight and to defend their territory, their love of their country. He misunderstood the character of the Ukrainians, and he underestimated President Zelensky as well, he's been extraordinary”

PM on Abramovich: "None of us want to live in a country where the state can take your house off you without a very high burden of proof and due process, there's no point in “we're going to go after him!” & then you come up against the brick wall of lawyers. We’ve to get it right”

PM: “It feels to me as though Vladimir Putin – and it's clear from what's happening – has decided to double down. He sees no way out of the cul-de-sac that he's in, except to continue with the destruction, the pulverizing of innocent populations, in innocent European cities.”

PM: “The whole question of a nuclear exchange, the use of nuclear weapons, is a distraction from what's happening in Ukraine, which is, I'm afraid, a brutal and barbaric attack on innocent people. I don't think that we should be sidetracked by some of the rhetoric we've heard.”

PM on a possible regime change in Moscow: "This is not about trying to do anything to shorten the political career of anyone in Moscow. This is about simply trying to protect the people of Ukraine. If we think in that way, we'll damage our chances of achieving what we need to do"

Johnson: "There is a close analogy between Putin's behavior and Slobodan Milosevic. Both leaders had been in power for a long time, both increasingly autocratic, both seeking to shore up their domestic position, and found a great nationalist cause, before a catastrophic mistake"

PM on why the West won’t intervene militarily in Ukraine: “What I'm trying to say is that the West has already moved a long way, and it's very, very united. But it is still a long day’s march, as they say, to the idea of any kind of direct confrontation between Western forces…”

“…between UK, Italian, German, Spanish armed forces, and Russian forces.

The consequences of such engagements would be very, very hard to control and to manage. We wouldn't know where it would end. The risks of miscalculation are huge. You talk about a red line…”

“…we have to keep a conceptual boundary in what we're doing. That doesn't mean that we don't care passionately, or that we won’t do everything that we can, within the parameters that we've set, to try to change the odds in favour of the victims. We will try to…”

“…change the odds in favor of the victims. But I think that there is no Western country that I know of, that is currently considering sending combatants to that theather of conflict. That's just the reality. That it's not on the agenda.”
#UkraineRussianWar

NEW. PM Johnson appears to *rule out* any triggering of Article 16 in the near future, given the Ukraine crisis: “Since you bring it up… Look, you really want to ask about it? I will tell you that, in all sincerity, I think that it is something that…”
#Brexit #NorthernIreland

“…we could solve with goodwill and common sense. But we can't go on with a system where, you know… It really feels pénible (in French) to be talking about this subject now…”

The @duponline and @J_Donaldson_MP won’t be that happy…

#Article16 #Brexit #NorthernIreland 🇬🇧