World news Johnson insists landmark Russia visit will not lead to softer stance
ASSISTANT POLITICAL EDITOR BORIS JOHNSON is to become the first foreign secretary to visit Russia in half a decade to pressure the Kremlin into abandoning its involvement in Syria and Ukraine.
In a significant foreign policy shift, Mr Johnson will fly out to meet his counterpart Sergey Lavrov for talks in Moscow within weeks.
It comes just months after Mr Johnson accused Russia of committing war crimes in Syria and called on protesters to demonstrate outside its London embassy.
The Foreign Office has insisted the trip does not represent a “return to business as usual” and that Mr Johnson will be “robust” in defending existing British policy.
Sources close to Mr Johnson insisted that he wants to “look the Russians in the eye” over their controversial policies, arguing that face-to-face meetings offer the best hope of securing changes. However, the trip will inevitably lead to questions about whether President Trump’s more pro-Russia tone compared with his predecessors has influenced the change in approach.
Not since William Hague visited Russia in May 2012 has a foreign secretary gone to the country for official talks. In the intervening five years, Russia has been accused by ministers of murdering a critic on British soil – Alexander Litvinenko – and escalating the Syrian civil war.
The country has also faced international sanctions over the illegal annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine, as well as accusations of interfering in the US election through cyber attacks.
Mr Johnson has been at the forefront of such criticism since becoming Foreign Secretary last July. He accused the Russians of committing a “war crime” in Syria by helping to prop up Bashar al-Assad, and called for protests at the Russian Embassy.
Mr Johnson also mocked Mr Lavrov at the Tory party conference last year, revealing he asked for a “show of hands” for who was “in favour of democracy” during a meeting between the pair at the UN general assembly.
However, announcing the visit yesterday morning, the Foreign Office said: “The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have made clear that our policy towards Russia is to ‘engage but beware’ and the visit is entirely consistent with this approach.”
A source suggested that Mr Johnson’s “hawkish” stance had given him political space. “We are not going there to make friends. We may make more enemies, but we want to meet them face to face. This is guarded diplomacy.”