Truss: allies are resolute the ratchet needs to be tightened on Putin
Liz Truss called for a “tightening of the ratchet” on Vladimir Putin with further sanctions by Western allies, warning the Russian leader could turn to “more and more extreme violence”.
In a wide-ranging interview, the Foreign Secretary said it was time to be “strong and tough” with Mr Putin after the attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol.
She called for Russia to be fully excluded from the Swift international payments system, and an end to Russian oil and gas dependency across the G7. She accused Mr Putin of playing an “appalling cat and mouse game” with Ukrainian civilians in bogus humanitarian corridors, and vowed that Britain was “in it for the long haul” helping Ukraine.
Amid a row between the US and Poland over a failed plan to supply MIG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, she indicated that Britain believed the anti-aircraft weapons it has agreed to send were the “most effective way of dealing with the aerial threat the Ukrainians face”.
Britain has played a central role in the international response to the invasion, and Ms Truss delivered an uncompromising message on a visit to Washington this week, saying allies must remain “resolute”.
Following a meeting with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, she said: “We discussed what more sanctions we can put on. We’re very clear the ratchet needs to be tightened.
“The sanctions are already having a debilitating effect on the Russian economy. Russia is being pushed back to a pre-globalised age. The Russian government can’t access a lot of the foreign currency reserves that they’ve had. People can’t go to Mcdonald’s in Moscow anymore.”
Some Russian banks have been removed from Swift, but Germany has been accused of resisting the blocking of state-backed Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, which handles energyrelated transactions.
Ms Truss said: “I’ve said we want to see a full ban on Swift, we want to see a clear timetable to reduce dependency on oil and gas across the G7 and our allies. We need to keep the pressure up on Putin.” She said the Russian leader was not making the gains he expected, but that there must be no offers to him.
“Now is not the time to let up or give concessions because what we’ve seen in the past is, when Putin gets concessions, he banks them and then comes back for more. This is the time we need to be strong, and be tough, and be resolute,” she said.
“He has to withdraw from Ukraine. He has to be seen to lose in Ukraine.”
Ms Truss said she “worries” that Mr Putin may escalate the conflict.
She said: “He is turning to more and more extreme forms of violence, and we saw the appalling attack on the hospital. We are concerned about what might be next, which is why it’s so important that we are resolute in pursuing tougher sanctions, and continuing to supply defensive weapons, and continuing to support the Ukrainians.”
She declined to speculate on the type of “weapons or practices” Mr Putin might use. But Western officials have warned he could be plotting a chemical or biological attack.
Ms Truss criticised the Russian offer of humanitarian corridors that would lead Ukrainian civilians into Russia or Belarus. She added: “Certainly, what we’ve seen with the establishment of the so-called humanitarian corridors is Putin playing a cat and mouse game with the Ukrainian people. These are not genuine humanitarian corridors. They lead to Russia and Belarus, which are not safe havens for the Ukrainian people, and often there are attacks taking place in these corridors.”
Ms Truss added: “I’m pretty clear there’s a strong case [for Mr Putin] to answer on crimes against humanity and war crimes, and we are working with our allies to collect evidence about the appalling atrocities that are taking place in Ukraine.”
The Foreign Secretary said the invasion was a lesson that the West must not let its guard down.
She said: “Over the past 20 years Nato hasn’t spent enough on defence, but we’ve also allowed our economy to become strategically dependent on Russian oil and gas.
“We cannot be dependent again, or complacent again, about the threat that authoritarian regimes pose.”
Last night, Ms Truss said compensation should be considered for countries overly dependent on Russian energy as they reduce their imports in future.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington, she said: “We should look at potential compensation for countries that are especially dependent on Russian energy.”
‘The sanctions are having a debilitating effect on the Russian economy, pushing it back to a pre-globalised age’