THE UK is prepared to deploy troops should Russia invade Ukraine, Boris Johnson has said.
The Prime Minister addressed the growing tensions with MPs today, saying he was ready to impose "heavy economic sanctions" on Russia as a result of its growing military presence on the Ukranian border.
He warned that any invasion would result in “bloodshed comparable to the first war in Chechnya or Bosnia”.
Mr Johnson told the House of Commons: “If Russia pursues this path, many Russian mothers’ sons will not be coming home.
“The response in the international community would be the same and the pain that would be inflicted on the Russian economy will be the same.”
He made an appeal for diplomacy to resolve the tensions and avoid a war that would “earn and would deserve the condemnation of history”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party “stands resolute” in supporting Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss failed to rule out UK combat troops being sent to help defend Ukraine – but told MPs such a scenario is “unlikely”.
Mr Johnson went on to say: “The British Army leads the Nato battle group in Estonia and if Russia invades Ukraine, we would look to contribute to any new Nato deployments to protect our allies in Europe."
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford asked Mr Johnson whether he could confirm the “banning of Russia from the Swift banking system” was one of the measures considered as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
The Prime Minister said: “There is no doubt that would be a very potent weapon. I’m afraid it can only really be deployed with the assistance of the United States, though we’re in discussions about that."
Alyn Smith, the SNP's foreign affairs spokesman, said the UK Government had to "get on" with implementing recommendations of various reports to protect the UK from threats.
He said that the SNP would be "part of the coalition in Ukraine's defence", but added: "In that spirit, will the Prime Minister accept the real frustration on this side of the house that his own credibility, the credibility of his own government and all of us has been undermined by continued inaction in implementing Moscow's Gold Report and the Russia report.
"We would support the legislation to strengthen his own credibility. Let's get on with it."
Mr Johnson disagreed, saying the UK had been "absolutely ruthless in employing Magnitsky sanctions", adding: "They're a great thing and targeted at people involved in the poisoning of Alexi Navalny and we will use direct targeted sanctions against against the Putin regime."
Anum Qaisar, Airdrie and Shotts MP, questioned Mr JOhnson about the impact of the conflict on energy prices and urged him to bring in a package of measures to protect citizens in the UK.
She said: "A percentage of our natural gas comes from Russia and Putin has already said he will turn off the taps if he deems Moscow to be unfairly sanctioned, by the West.
"My constituents in Airdrie and Shotts are already struggling with rising fuel costs.
"Does the Prime Minister accept that he must make a package of policies to help families pay for bills on the domestic front so that that's an international issue does not compound the problem?"
Mr Johnson said Ms Qaisar was "quite right to draw attention to the price spike in energy around the world" but added: "Actually, Russian gas only comprises 3% of the UK gas supplies but what we've got to do is mitigate the impacts on families of the cost of energy with all the cold weather payments, everything that we're doing to increase living wage, all the support that we're giving families throughout throughout the winter and beyond."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel