Sunak tells Putin: It’s no good waiting out the West in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin should not be “waiting out the West”, Rishi Sunak has said, as he warned the Russian leader that Nato was “in it for the long haul” with its support for Ukraine.
Speaking on the way to the alliance’s annual conference in Lithuania on Tuesday, the Prime Minister addressed speculation that Nato members would give more detail on how Ukraine will be given membership status during the summit.
“What Putin needs to understand is there is no point in just waiting out the West, and not just the West but the alliance of people who have fought to support Ukraine,” he told reporters on his RAF Voyager flight.
“Everyone is in it for the long haul. He [Putin] thought this would be over quickly – that has already been proven to be false.
“What he thought would be done and dusted within a few days, we are now 500 days into this conflict and the Ukrainians are capturing territory.”
Asked about when Ukraine would be allowed to join Nato, Mr Sunak said: “We’ve always said Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato. We stand by the language of Bucharest in 2008.”
In 2008 at a Nato summit in Bucharest, both Ukraine and Georgia were told they could accede to the alliance. However, no concrete steps to entry were set out.
Mr Sunak continued: “I think what’s important at this summit is that commitment is reaffirmed, but also that there is demonstrable progress towards that. And I think that is what you will see.”
He added that alliance members would announce multilateral “security guarantees” for Ukraine that would stop short of formal membership but involve arms and other offers of military assistance.
“The purpose of these [security guarantees] are to demonstrate multilateral support for Ukraine, but also enduring long-term support for Ukraine, and I think that is critical,” said Mr Sunak.
“Because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it will send a strong deterrent message to the Russians. That’s why I have been very keen to try and get this over the line.”
Mr Sunak said discussions about security guarantees were “distinct from the Nato conversation” about Ukraine’s membership, but would deter Putin nonetheless.
“Those conversations are ongoing so we need to keep having them, but that’s the purpose of them,” he said.
“It’s to demonstrate that long-term commitment from a broad group of countries. It is distinct from the Nato conversation, and I think it will send a very strong signal of deterrent to Putin.”
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