They formed a somewhat random trio, Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Mark Rutte and Justin Trudeau. The screen at the press conference after their discussions Monday – they spoke both one on one and three – was therefore no other title than ‘Update on Ukraine’, with flags of the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands.
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The heads of government spoke together again their support to Ukraine and underlined the importance of heavy international pressure on Russian President Putin. Johnson announced additional financial support for Ukraine, Trudeau introduced new sanctions for some Russian oligarchs and Rutte named the historic bond of the three NATO countries and said that as far as the Netherlands is concerned, “all sanctions are on the table”.
And for host Johnson, an important side effect was that these consultations lent legitimacy to his claim that the United Kingdom is at the forefront of coordinating the international response to the war.
Payment systems exclusion
Is that correct too? Johnson calls Ukrainian President Zelensky almost every day. Last week he was in Poland and Estonia and after Monday’s visit he will receive heads of government from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland on Tuesday. It was Johnson, along with Rutte and Trudeau, among others, who one of the first urged to exclude the Russians from the international payment system Swift. And the UK was also relatively quick to send arms and aid to Ukraine.
All in all, there is a cautious sense of satisfaction with Johnson’s performance in the Conservative Party. Although there is certainly also criticism, especially about the bill with which the UK wants to tackle Russians with dubiously acquired real estate. In summary, those proposals do not go far enough for the opposition and some Tories and the process is too slow. And both the European Union and the United States have a much longer list of boycotted oligarchs than the UK. The EU is also more hospitable to Ukrainian refugees.
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And although Prime Minister Rutte was not officially in London on behalf of the European Union, it is clear that the rather chilly relations between the EU and the UK, thanks to Brexit, are now born out of necessity. improve rapidly† British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss attended Friday last week even attended an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers, something that would have been diplomatically unimaginable a few months ago. “With regard to security and cooperation in Europe, it is once again underlined how important it is that we act as one,” Rutte said on Monday. “You see now how much we need each other.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of March 8, 2022
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