UKRAINE CRISIS: Boris urged to ‘move hard’ or ‘blood will be spilt’
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The Prime Minister was encouraged to impose sanctions on up to 150 Russian oligarchs, as defence chiefs warned of a catastrophe if the response is too weak.
It comes after President Putin had ordered the deployment of troops to eastern Ukraine, labelled the “beginning of a Russian invasion”.
Campaigners and MPs warned the British Government must “move hard” and “move now” to clamp down on Russian money flowing through the UK.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “We can do, we should do and we must do more to root out the dirty money that flows through here.
“I really do believe the Government has to take this many notches further and hit them very hard.
“We must hear them squeal when we hit them with these sanctions.
“We must move, we must move hard, we must move now and we must make them squeal. If we do not do that then we will have failed.”
The calls came as US President Joe Biden said he believes that Putin is setting up “a rationale” to go much further and take more Ukrainian territory by force.
The President said: “This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We still believe that Russia is poised to go much further in launching a massive military attack against Ukraine.
“As Russia contemplates its next move, we have our next move prepared as well. Russia will pay an even steeper price if it continues its aggression, including additional sanctions.”
Biden has now authorised the additional movement of US forces to allies in Eastern Europe.
He also announced the first tranche of sanctions against Russia, saying: “It can no longer raise money from the West.
“Starting tomorrow and continuing in the days ahead we will also impose sanctions on Russia’s elites and their family members. They share in the corrupt gains of the Kremlin policies and should share in the pain as well.”
Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks said: “Are we ready, again, to be mild and fragmented in our response to this? Because if we are mild today, then instead of spilling money, we will spill blood, because he will not stop.”
The Daily Express understands MPs on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee will soon be given a list of 150 Russian oligarchs who should be sanctioned after President Putin’s deployment of troops to eastern Ukraine.
It comes after the PM yesterday admitted more sanctions on Russia are “inevitable” after triggering a “first barrage” of punitive measures in response to the invasion.
He announced an immediate freeze on the UK assets of five Russian banks and three wealthy oligarchs closely linked to the Kremlin.
But there are growing calls for him to go much further.
The West’s retaliation came as Russian legislators authorised Putin to use military force outside the country, a move that could pave the way for a wider invasion of Ukraine after he rolled troops into rebel-held areas.
The unanimous vote in the upper house of parliament formalises the Russian premier’s order to send troops into Ukraine’s breakaway eastern regions and allows him to use military force outside of Russia with immediate effect.
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Holding a press conference to defend his decision, Putin raised fears he is about to stage a land-grab in eastern Ukraine by saying his “peacekeeping” mission will cover the whole of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including areas held by Ukraine.
Russia still has around 190,000 troops massed on the border.
It is thought more than 10,000 Russian troops have now moved into rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Earlier in the House of Commons, the PM warned the West has to “brace” itself for a lengthy deep freeze in relations with the Kremlin.
He said: “We cannot tell what will happen in the days ahead, but we should steel ourselves for a protracted crisis.
“The United Kingdom will meet this challenge side-by-side with our allies.”
MPs urged the Government to go “much further, much faster” in punishing Putin and his allies for the incursion into Ukrainian territory.
In response to the calls, Mr Johnson insisted that there would be “more to come” in the coming days.
The PM was briefed yesterday by Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin at the Ministry of Defence as tensions mounted.
Setting out the Government’s response, he said action was being taken against wealthy Russian businessmen Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and his nephew Igor Rotenberg.
Meanwhile, former US President Donald Trump called Putin’s orders to send troops into Ukraine “genius”.
He said: “Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine… Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. So, Putin is now saying, ‘It’s independent’ – a large section of Ukraine.
“I said, ‘How smart is that?’ And he’s going to go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s strongest peace force. We could use that on our southern border.”
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COMMENT BY LORD DANNATT
Vladimir Putin has written his own script for The Tragedy of Ukraine and is following it to the letter.
He appears completely deaf to the condemnation of his critics in the West.
The scene was set by the massing of 150,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders – and the script entered farce territory when Russian citizens were ordered to leave its Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. We saw orchestrated pictures of mainly smiling women and children getting on to buses.
Then on Monday, Putin stage-managed the recognition of those provinces as independent, denied that Ukraine was ever a sovereign state and ordered in “peacekeepers”.
Had this not actually happened, you could not make it up. Farce and reality have become one. But the next scenes will be no laughing matter.
The West and Nato are right to protest that Russia has violated international law, but she has done so before in Georgia and Crimea and largely got away with it.
If Putin judges that he will get away with it again, he will send his battlegroups to the rest of Ukraine. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of civilians and soldiers will die on both sides.
The infrastructure of Ukraine will be smashed by air strikes and artillery fire.
The West and Nato will impose the most damaging economic sanctions that can be devised. The global economy will stutter, prices will rise. Perhaps Russian forces will actually enter Kiev, but what then?
It would be a disaster for the people of Ukraine, but the real loser will be Putin himself and Russia.
Should the heady drugs of power and self-importance finally consume Putin so that he orders his armour to invade fully, he and his country will become the pariahs of the international community, condemned to years of isolation and economic self-harm.
Putin’s long-term aim may have been to cause damaging splits within Nato, but he has failed miserably. The West and Nato are more united today than at any moment since the Cold War ended.
If Russia does bring bloody conflict to Ukraine, she will be rolling back the pages of history. Putin will be the perpetrator of war in Europe, something that should never have been seen again after 1945. That will be his legacy, as one of history’s monsters.
- Lord Dannatt – Former head of the British Army
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