Boris Johnson to Russia - Stop destabilising Europe or else

[webfact]

Boris Johnson to Russia - Stop destabilising Europe or else

By Andrew Osborn

 

Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson arrives in Downing Street, London, Britain, December 19, 2017. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - British foreign minister Boris Johnson will tell his Russian counterpart on Friday that there can be no "business as usual" until Moscow stops "destabilising" Europe and that Britain is ready to retaliate against any cyber attacks.

 

Johnson is due to hold talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during what is the first visit to Russia by a British foreign minister in five years. He is also expected to meet Kremlin critics, students, and gay rights activists.

 

Johnson's visit comes at a time when relations between London and Moscow are strained by differences over Ukraine and Syria as well as by allegations, which Russia flatly denies, of it meddling in the politics of various European countries and of backing cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns.

 

“Our relations with Russia cannot be ‘business as usual’ whilst Russia continues to attempt to destabilise European states, including Ukraine," Johnson said in a statement released by his office before the talks.

 

While travelling to Moscow on Thursday, Johnson told reporters that Britain disapproved of many things that Russia had done. He singled out its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, what he called Moscow's destabilising of the western Balkans, and its cyber activities.

 

"As you would expect the UK has its own (cyber) capabilities and we are ready of course to defend our interests," he said.

 

But Johnson also stressed his desire for London and Moscow to cooperate where they have common interests, saying it was vital for international security that the two countries talk to each other because not doing so risked potentially dangerous misunderstandings.

 

Johnson says he wants to discuss working with Moscow to preserve the Iran nuclear deal and the threat posed by North Korea, as well as security arrangements for next year's soccer World Cup which will be held in Russia.

 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the decision to scale back British-Russian dialogue had been London's however, and had been groundless and untimely.

 

Johnson riled Russian officials before his visit by likening Russia to the ancient Greek city state of Sparta in an interview with Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, saying Moscow was "closed, nasty, militaristic and anti-democratic - like Sparta."

 

Zakharova has previously called Johnson unprofessional, organised an online cartoon competition that mocked him, and strongly disputed his assertions about Syria.

 

When asked before his trip what she made of Johnson's statements criticising Moscow, Zakharova said they had caused only laughter in Russia and were not worth getting upset about because they had come from Boris Johnson.

 

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn Additional reporting by William James in London; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt/Dmitry Solovyov)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-12-22

[RuamRudy]

Man on a mission to destabilise Europe tells other man on similar mission to back off...

[Topdoc]

All those trying to change the Brexit vote are also anti-democratic

[ilostmypassword]

1 hour ago, Topdoc said:

All those trying to change the Brexit vote are also anti-democratic

Especially the ones who are trying to do it via the voting.  Terrible idea, voting.

[james1995]

I disagree with him entirely.  I'm an American and I see Russia as a force for good.  We(US & UK) need to get rid of these anti-Russian clowns.

[BuaBS]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Stop destabilising Europe or else

Or else what ?

 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

When asked before his trip what she made of Johnson's statements criticising Moscow, Zakharova said they had caused only laughter in Russia and were not worth getting upset about because they had come from Boris Johnson.

Russian humor !

 

Go ahead Vlad , destabilise Europe !

[thaibeachlovers]

I had to double take on this when I first read the headline. I assume Boris is merely a glove puppet when he threatens Russia with ????????????????????

I'm sure that he isn't so stupid that he actually believes Britain can actually DO anything against the Russian Bear. Perhaps he has a home base to try and impress, or something like that.

Actually it's rather sad watching Britain pretending to be important when everyone knows they're not.

I lived there for 10 years while Blair ruined the place, and I have to say he did his best to do so. He and Gordon wasted 6 BILLION quid on the NHS, and even the BBC was ruined under his watch. Now they're wasting another few BILLION quid on stupid aircraft carriers, while the navy can't even fix it's other ships, or find enough sailors to man them, and the Army continues to be gutted.

So, just what does Boris think he's going to do? Send his aircraft devoid aircraft carrier to Archangel and march the sole remaining platoon of squaddies in to give Putin a kicking? 

[sanuk711]

Boris Johnson told Russia - Stop destabilising Europe or else

In further news Vladimir Putin has been taken to Hospital to have over 80 stitches place in both of his sides....................

[bartender100]

23 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I had to double take on this when I first read the headline. I assume Boris is merely a glove puppet when he threatens Russia with ????????????????????

I'm sure that he isn't so stupid that he actually believes Britain can actually DO anything against the Russian Bear. Perhaps he has a home base to try and impress, or something like that.

Actually it's rather sad watching Britain pretending to be important when everyone knows they're not.

I lived there for 10 years while Blair ruined the place, and I have to say he did his best to do so. He and Gordon wasted 6 BILLION quid on the NHS, and even the BBC was ruined under his watch. Now they're wasting another few BILLION quid on stupid aircraft carriers, while the navy can't even fix it's other ships, or find enough sailors to man them, and the Army continues to be gutted.

So, just what does Boris think he's going to do? Send his aircraft devoid aircraft carrier to Archangel and march the sole remaining platoon of squaddies in to give Putin a kicking? 

Royal Navy may be in decline, but its still 4th biggest in the world

[thaibeachlovers]

6 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

Royal Navy may be in decline, but its still 4th biggest in the world

I was referring to the situation that exists with all ships in port because they are broken, or haven't got sailors to man them. There was a newspaper article about it recently. Doesn't matter how many ships they have if they can't use them.

I'm not getting at the Navy, but at the British government that has been gutting the military for decades.

The British navy used to rule the world, and now they can't even leave port because the sailors are on leave for Xmas!

No one wants to pay for the military till the enemy comes a knockin'.

[Gene1960]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/22/lavrov-plays-the-straight-man-to-boriss-buffoon-in-moscow
ohnson said Lavrov was so solid he’d had no qualms about handing the Russian his coat along with everything in his pockets, “secret or otherwise”.

“As Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan used to say, trust but verify. I can’t remember what that is in Russian,” said Johnson, now enjoying himself, and completing the sentence with some incomprehensible faux-Slavic mumbling.

Funny.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thongkorn]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I was referring to the situation that exists with all ships in port because they are broken, or haven't got sailors to man them. There was a newspaper article about it recently. Doesn't matter how many ships they have if they can't use them.

I'm not getting at the Navy, but at the British government that has been gutting the military for decades.

The British navy used to rule the world, and now they can't even leave port because the sailors are on leave for Xmas!

No one wants to pay for the military till the enemy comes a knockin'.

This is what Boris is on about Fake news, Do you believe everything you read, Dont underestimate Britains capability, Britain is   a world leader in Cyber Space War, Dont forget Britian invented the computer 70 years ago, so i would think we still have some tricks up our sleeves,

Edited December 22, 2017 by Thongkorn

[1337markus]

UKs answer to Trump number 2.

[klauskunkel]

 

Vlad had this advice for Boris: ask Donald to share his hairspray with you, it just works...

[wombat]

11 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I had to double take on this when I first read the headline. I assume Boris is merely a glove puppet when he threatens Russia with ????????????????????

I'm sure that he isn't so stupid that he actually believes Britain can actually DO anything against the Russian Bear. Perhaps he has a home base to try and impress, or something like that.

Actually it's rather sad watching Britain pretending to be important when everyone knows they're not.

I lived there for 10 years while Blair ruined the place, and I have to say he did his best to do so. He and Gordon wasted 6 BILLION quid on the NHS, and even the BBC was ruined under his watch. Now they're wasting another few BILLION quid on stupid aircraft carriers, while the navy can't even fix it's other ships, or find enough sailors to man them, and the Army continues to be gutted.

So, just what does Boris think he's going to do? Send his aircraft devoid aircraft carrier to Archangel and march the sole remaining platoon of squaddies in to give Putin a kicking? 

 

what does the Sharia Law spokesperson, for the UK govt in waiting, have to say about this?

[VocalNeal]

12 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

Vlad had this advice for Boris: ask Donald to share his hairspray with you, it just works...

 

Hey Boris looks like village idiot and his hair is just fine, it is part of his persona.  If he smoothed it down it would detract from his buffoon-like appearance. 

Trump having his hair in place doesn't improve his buffoonery.

Edited December 23, 2017 by VocalNeal

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, Thongkorn said:

This is what Boris is on about Fake news, Do you believe everything you read, Dont underestimate Britains capability, Britain is   a world leader in Cyber Space War, Dont forget Britian invented the computer 70 years ago, so i would think we still have some tricks up our sleeves,

Actually, Babbage designed the first computer in 1812 or thereabouts.

 

The real tragedy of Britain is that a country that led the world in inventions and started the industrial revolution has become a country that makes not much at all. Britain doesn't even make it's own cars or warplanes anymore. The geniuses that designed the Spitfire, Vulcan, Blue Streak, TSR 2 etc etc are apparently no more. 

I grew up in a world where Britain was a leader, a force for stability, with amazing authors and film/ tv makers, comedians, soldiers, explorers, pioneers and statesmen. Where are they now? All gone and replaced by?????????????

No wonder the British media are going mad about Harry's girlfriend- they've got nothing else to talk about.

[AJBangkok]

So why is Boris moaning about Russia destabilizing Europe when the UK is in the process of exiting Europe. It’s not his business anymore and if the European country’s feel they need to have a word to Russia then they certainly don’t need Boris to do it.

[Stargeezr]

Does everyone think that Russia taking over Crimea is okay?

Really!

Geezer

[Krataiboy]

What could possibly destabalise Europe more than Brexit, which Boris championed?

[baboon]

34 minutes ago, AJBangkok said:

So why is Boris moaning about Russia destabilizing Europe when the UK is in the process of exiting Europe. It’s not his business anymore and if the European country’s feel they need to have a word to Russia then they certainly don’t need Boris to do it.

To be fair, the UK is in the process of exiting the the EU, not the European continent. World affairs are just as much a British concern as they are of any other nation, regardless of which trading / federal bloc they may or may not be a member of.

 

That said, I wish that knob Boris Johnson would be shown the door. He isn't funny, he isn't eccentric, he is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, and an embarrassing one at that.

Edited December 23, 2017 by baboon

[champers]

He is out of the country; that is good news for the PM. The bad news: he will be coming back.

[nausea]

He's a buffoon. No-one takes him seriously. I suppose there are advantages in that. Certainly in Russia buffoons are well represented in literature.

[Baerboxer]

On 12/22/2017 at 3:25 PM, RuamRudy said:

Man on a mission to destabilise Europe tells other man on similar mission to back off...

 

Man without a clue tells a man who knows exactly what he doing to back off.

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Does everyone think that Russia taking over Crimea is okay?

Really!

Geezer

 

That's not such an easy question. You could also ask if everyone thinks it was ok for Ukranian born Soviet dictator Kruschev to just give Crimea to his home country.

 

Sadly the old USSR has plenty of such injustices and been lucky not to have more real violent conflict as we saw when the old Yugoslavia broke up.

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, AJBangkok said:

So why is Boris moaning about Russia destabilizing Europe when the UK is in the process of exiting Europe. It’s not his business anymore and if the European country’s feel they need to have a word to Russia then they certainly don’t need Boris to do it.

 

You need to look up the difference between Europe and the EU. 

[dunroaming]

6 hours ago, baboon said:

That said, I wish that knob Boris Johnson would be shown the door. He isn't funny, he isn't eccentric, he is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, and an embarrassing one at that.

Nothing wrong in poking a stick at the Russian bear except if you get an idiot like Johnson to do the poking.  He is seen as a figure of fun but in fact he just isn't funny at all.  You have to have credible people representing your country, not a buffoon like Johnson.

[IAMHERE]

21 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Does everyone think that Russia taking over Crimea is okay?

Really!

Geezer

Russia did not take over Crimea, Russia took back Crimea. Similar to a marriage gift that Russia wanted returned when things didn't work out. I wonder how Russia has so much influence over Europe if they are so evil.

[Naam]

2 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

Russia did not take over Crimea, Russia took back Crimea. Similar to a marriage gift that Russia wanted returned when things didn't work out. I wonder how Russia has so much influence over Europe if they are so evil.

[Naam]

On 12/23/2017 at 10:07 AM, VocalNeal said:

Hey Boris looks like village idiot

not only he looks like one...