BOJO:NO LOVE FROM RUSSIA
West’s democracy dream now dead
BRITAIN has been defeated in its bid to bring Russia in from the cold, Boris Johnson admits.
The Foreign Secretary had believed previously democracy would flourish in the former communist state.
But he told a Russian politician at a meeting in London: “I genuinely thought we’d be able to welcome Russia into the community of democratic nations in the way envisaged by Bill Clinton and others in the 90s.
“It never really happened and I think we have to do a bit of soul searching about why, how we lost Russia and what went wrong. There were faults on both sides. It’s a pity.”
Mr Johnson travels to Moscow in the run-up to Christmas, warning the Government’s policy on the Kremlin is “beware but engage”.
Earlier, he backed Donald Trump over North Korea.
Mr Johnson said: “When the President of the United States contemplates a regime led by a man who threatens to reduce New York to ashes, that President will have a duty to prepare any option to keep safe the American people and all those who have sheltered under the American nuclear umbrella.” North Korea has now declared itself a “fully fledged nuclear power” in an open letter to the West. The US Air Force has reportedly put nuclear-armed B-52 bombers back on 24-hour alert, a status not seen since the Cold War.