Russia-Ukraine standoff: UK PM Johnson says swaying public opinion in Russia key to de-escalation

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a news conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday following their meeting in Kyiv.

"I think perhaps the single most useful thing we can all do is get over to the Russian public, to citizens in Russia, thinking about this possibility, the reality that the Ukrainian army will fight. There are 200,000 men and women under arms in Ukraine, they will put up a very, very fierce and bloody resistance," Johnson said.

The British PM added that "I think that parents, mothers in Russia should reflect on that fact and I hope very much that President Putin steps back from the path of conflict and that we engage in dialogue."

Johnson said they would immediately impose sanctions if Russia were to invade Ukraine.

"The package that we're bringing forward, the new legislation, will enable us to pinpoint commercial interests of Russia, strategic commercial interests of Russia in a very direct way, as well as individual Russian commercial interests."

Russia has repeatedly said it has no plans for war but has amassed more than 100,000 military troops along the Ukrainian border. It has also made several demands of the U.S. and its NATO allies, including that Ukraine never be allowed to join the alliance and to stop the deployment of NATO weapons near Russian borders and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/8585126/house-of-commons-debate-ukraine-russia/

Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc
Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ
Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt
Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB
#NATO #GlobalNews