British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has secured a majority in a landslide election victory, results showed on Friday.
In addition to leading Britain through its withdrawal from the European Union, Johnson will be tasked with navigating British-Russian relations, which have been fraught since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and a former Russian spy was poisoned on British soil.
Prior to Thursday’s victory, Johnson’s opponents accused him of delaying publishing a report on alleged Russian meddling in British politics to hide embarassing revelations about himself and his party.
Here’s a look at what Johnson has said about Russia in the past:
On interacting with Russia as Foreign Secretary (September 2018)
“When I became foreign secretary I thought there was no objective reason why we should be quite so hostile to Russia.”
“Yes, there were lots of reasons to be suspicious, lots of reasons to be wary. But I thought it was possible — I made the classic, classic mistake of thinking it was possible to have a ‘reset’ with Russia.”
On President Vladimir Putin (December 2015; June 2019)
“He [Putin] is allegedly the linchpin of a vast post-Soviet gangster kleptocracy, and is personally said to be the richest man on the planet. Journalists who oppose him get shot. His rivals find themselves locked up. Despite looking a bit like Dobby the House Elf, he is a ruthless and manipulative tyrant.”
“I don’t want to put too fine a point on it, Vladimir, but there are some countries where capitalism is believed to be in the hands of oligarchs and cronies, where journalists are shot, and where ‘liberal values’ are derided, and where according to the Russian statistics agency Rosstat, a third of the country cannot afford to buy more than two pairs of shoes per year; where 12% of the population still has to rely on an outdoor toilet, and where real incomes have declined for each of the past five years.”
“It is a matter of economic fact that, when Vladimir Putin says that liberalism is obsolete, he is talking the most tremendous tripe. Liberalism is alive. It is well. It is delivering prosperity on a scale unimaginable to previous generations.”
On Russian interference in British politics (November 2019)
“There’s absolutely no evidence that I’ve ever seen of any Russian interference in UK democratic processes… And as for that particular report I saw no reason whatever to change to timetable for publication just because there was a general election going on.”
On his attitude toward Russia (December 2019)
“I am a Russophile, a committed Russophile… And I believe — I’m certain that I’m the first foreign secretary in the history of my office to be called Boris.”
On the Skripal poisoning (March 2018)
“No matter how exactly it came to be done, the pathway, the chain of responsibility seems to me to go back to the Russian state and those at the top.”
On Russian oligarch donations to the Conservative Party (November 2019)
“All donations to the Conservative Party are properly vetted, properly publicized. … I’ll leave it to your teams of researchers to bring that fact before us. It’s all there in the public.”
On Russia’s involvement in the Syrian conflict (September 2016)
“The world’s attitude towards Russia has been hardening and I think people now believe that Russia is in danger of becoming a pariah nation… If they continue like this they will forfeit any sympathy and any admiration in the world at all, and I think they do care about that.”
(c) The Moscow Times
All true words from Boris, but unfortunately, words don’t hurt Dobby the House elf. Actions are required, 18 months since the attempted assassination of Skripal, still no action taken by the Tory government.
He is possibly the only high profile world leader to speak frankly about the nazi shitweasel. (Johnny McCain was equally blunt but unfortunately the US electorate chose the ghastly Obama). He is a historian and knows all about that shithole. Plus he has Circassian antecedents on his mother’s side, so he will be only too aware of Russian genocide. I don’t know what he will do about the Skripal outrage, but he will be a lot better than than the man who was codenamed Agent Cob by his handlers in the Cold War and continued to work for the kremlin long after it went fascist. You don’t get a job with RT, as CorbLenin did, unless you are a committed putler jackboot licker.
At least one shithouse out of the way, and I assume he’ll drag the Putin apologist Milne with him. Next fly in the ointment, the repulsive Sturgeon.
She is a poisonous bitch; as hideous on the inside as she is on the outside. But she does not represent the real Scots, of whom the formidably intelligent Michael Gove is a lot more to my taste. But even Sturgeon is not pure, concentrated evil, as Milne is. This vile bastard was one of the most persistent liars about the invasion of Krym in his columns in the Guardian. He has been CorbLenin’s ideologue: fulfilling the equivalent of Alexandr Dugin’s role. Personally I would put this public school Stalinist in an underground dungeon until he dies.
“I am a Russophile, a committed Russophile… And I believe — I’m certain that I’m the first foreign secretary in the history of my office to be called Boris.”
No further comment necessary…
I think he was being sarcastic, I hope he was.
Yeah. As much as i hope Zhirinovsky was sarcastic when wishing him best of luck for Brexit…
I should think Zhirinovsky is crying into his vodka, now that comrade Corbyn got his ass kicked. I’m sure he can arrange a job for him at RT cleaning the shithouse.
I thought this was going to be Macron’s new job…
Macron will be polishing Putin’s high heal shoes. LMAO
With his froggy tongue. LMFAO!
He has always differentiated between his contempt for the putler regime and his lack of hostility to non-putinoid Russians, just as I do and so do most Russia-watchers. This is the right approach. If you read Tolstoy, as he does, you can see that there are decent Russians. If you read Dostoevsky of course, you can see where the evil putler side comes from too. I have seen both sides. But when I was visiting Russia in the early days of the putler regime for business purposes, I had only positive experiences.
I always had a friendly attitude towards Moscow myself, since i fought for the serbs. But it changed. Now i think anything coming from Russia is shit – anything! They are sadists and abusive, in particular towards Ukraine and Moldova. The only way to beat them is to punch them in the teeth!
Yeah, we just need someone with a pair of balls to kick them in the teeth. All I see is ass lickers everywhere.
Amen.
He may well think that, but as a politician he has to use the language of diplomacy. Name any other brand name player on the world stage who has gone as far as Boris has in his condemnation of that skanky little shitweasel?
If McCain would have become POTUS in 2008, neither Georgia nor Ukraine would have happened. I need a drink…
Unfortunately, McCain was surrounded by bad company.
McCain would have been a great president but he was a terrible campaigner…. he was too honest
Remember his Beach Boys tribute? I enjoyed it, but some didn’t…..
‘Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran…’
Hahaha….
I believe the time has come to throw diplomacy out of the window when dealing with Russia. It’s time to call a spade a spade. Recognise Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, as Iran, NK, Sudan and Syria are, then take it from there. Freeze all Russian assets, until they have proof the money came from a legitimate source.
It seems as if the UK finally has a leader who is not afraid to follow the foresight, determination and courage of Churchill and Thatcher. This is good for the West. This is bad for mafia land. I hope that the other major European nations will soon dump their useless assgivers for real leaders as Boris. I will forgive his Russophile attitude. 😉