The UK foreign secretary Liz Truss warned Russia and China against exporting ‘dictatorship’ and said that the Western world will stand their ground. Truss is accompanying UK defence secretary Ben Wallace to Australia as world leaders engage in diplomacy to counter Russian aggression against Ukraine.
“They seek to export dictatorship as a service around the world. That is why regimes like Belarus, North Korea and Myanmar find their closest allies in Moscow and Beijing,” Truss was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters. Truss’ concern was also echoed by Australian defence minister Peter Dutton who said that the free world needs to stand its ground.
“When you see Russia act the way they do, it encourages other bullies and other dictatorships to do the same, and particularly if there’s no pushback from the rest of the world,” Dutton was quoted as saying by the AFP.
The UK earlier this week said that it sent anti-tank weapons to Ukraine for self-defence purposes. The admission was made during the parliament proceedings by UK defence secretary Ben Wallace who said that the UK will also send troops to help Ukrainian forces prepare for probable military conflict. “This support is for short-range and clearly defensive weapon capabilities; they are not strategic weapons and pose no threat to Russia; they are to be used in self-defence,” Wallace said while making the announcement.
Russian forces continued to amass near the Ukraine-Russia border, raising concerns that a protracted and bloody military conflict was on the cards. The US, who is supporting Ukraine along with NATO, warned Russia of severe economic consequences during the event of an invasion.
Russia denies any wrongdoing despite raising its number of troops at the restive Crimean peninsula and the Rostov region in Ukraine.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, are also scheduled to meet later on Friday to see if a diplomatic solution can be achieved.
The US also suffered backlash from Ukraine over statement made by US president Joe Biden who used the term ‘minor incursion’ inviting criticism from the Ukrainian government.
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