THREAD: Putin - what’s to be done if his response is inadequate? 1. The Russian ambassador & almost all diplomats shd be expelled. No point having diplomatic relations when little diplomacy is being conducted to mutual advantage. 1/
2/ Russia Today shd be shut. It’s not news or cultural outlet but propaganda tool of a murderous fascist regime intent on doing us major harm. Liberals can’t be liberal with those wishing to destroy them. Also stops paid British fellow travellers of Putin.
3/ UK assets of all Russian officials & Putin oligarchs shd be frozen immediately. Legislation for this enacted already but little done so far because of softly softly policy. We shd encourage our allies to do this too & make it a prime object of British diplomacy henceforth.
4/ We shouldn’t boycott World Cup - fans and players shouldn’t suffer for Putin & lesson of 1980 Olympics boycott not good. But we shd publicly call for FIFA to relocate the Cup. They will refuse but another outrage elsewhere & this might fly
5/ I said in (1) that the ‘Russian’ ambassador shd be expelled - but of course he is Putin’s ambassador, just as Ribbentrop was Hitler’s (& btw he shd have been expelled). We have no quarrell with the Russian people, just their warlike fascist regime.
6/ Putin will respond in kind. But since there aren’t many British oligarchs or officials with houses in Moscow or dachas in Crimea - even Farage doesn’t have Russian property (I think!) - & the Putin kleptocracy desperate to stash its theft outside Russia, this could bite hard
7/ Oh, & stop Brexit. Fact that Putin, Farage & Trump all want UK out of Europe & adore each other - ought, well, to tell us something! Stick with France, Germany & EU very tightly - as well as Nato.
8/ Conservative party shd also stop taking big money from oligarchs close to Putin. And Russians should be banned by law from all sizeable donations to political or cultural activities in the UK.
