UK says sanctions on Russia could be lifted if Putin ends Ukraine invasion

British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss said sanctions against Russian oligarchs, banks and businesses could be lifted if Russian President Vladimir Putin ends the invasion of Ukraine and vows “no more aggression” against Russia. other countries.

“These sanctions should only disappear with a total ceasefire and a withdrawal, but also with the commitment that there will be no more aggression,” Truss said in an interview with ‘The Telegraph’, in which he stressed that “there is also the opportunity to impose return sanctions if there are more aggressions in the future”.

Likewise, Truss revealed that her Ministry has created a unit specialized in negotiations to “provide support to Ukraine when the Russians take the negotiations seriously”, which is why the head of British Diplomacy maintains that NATO allies must be “hard” to achieve peace.

“We have to double the sanctions. We have to redouble the weapons we send to Ukraine. But when it comes time for negotiations, I want the UK to be a key player in ensuring that we support Ukraine in getting a deal that works,” he explained.

Truss assured that a continuation – and in some cases, an escalation – of the current tactics deployed by Ukraine and the West “could bring Putin to the negotiating table.”

“Putin must be put under even more pressure (…) Internally, through the economy and the weakening of Russia,” explained the UK Foreign Minister.

The statements of the British Foreign Minister coincide with those made last week by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in which he maintained that the sanctions on Russia will be maintained as long as the country “does not change its course.”

Although Blinken pointed out that the intention of the United States with the sanctions, which have “a huge impact” on the Russian economy, is not to have them “in perpetuity.”

For its part, the Kremlin once again raised the spectre of the use of nuclear weapons in the invasion of Ukraine while Putin’s troops simultaneously attacked several cities in the country.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, said Moscow could attack an enemy using only conventional weapons with atomic bombs.

“We have a special document on nuclear deterrence. This document clearly indicates the reasons why the Russian Federation has the right to use nuclear weapons. There are some of them, let me remind you: number one is the situation when Russia is hit by a nuclear missile. The second case is any use of other nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies,” he listed.