By Ben Kerrigan-
Boris Johnson claims there are “mixed signals” from Russia, after it said its government announced it was pulling back some of its troops from near Ukraine.
The PM said talks between Russia and Western powers has shown “signs of a diplomatic opening” to avert conflict.
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Russia has denies planning an attack, despite having more than 100,000 troops at Ukraine’s border.At an emergency meeting of UK ministers to discuss the situation, Mr Johnson said Russia had shown an “openness to conversations” about resolving the crisis diplomatically. But he added that intelligence on Tuesday showed Russian forces were “being brought closer to the border” with Ukraine.
Johnson said the West wanted to see a “programme of de-escalation” from Russia, and had a “very tough” set of sanctions “ready to go” in the event an invasion takes place.
He added that the UK was prepared to target Russian banks and companies, and stop them raising money on London’s financial markets.
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He also said British ministers had made the “balanced decision” to keep the UK’s embassy open in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv – after the US announced it was relocating its embassy operations to the western city of Lviv.
Mr Johnson said the UK had to “face the fact that there is a risk,” but added that keeping the embassy going “for as long as possible” is “an important symbol” of the UK’s continued support for Ukraine.
Johnson warned that a programme of sanctions was ready in the event Russia went ahead with an invasion – warning the UK was ready to target ownership of companies and the ability of Russians to raise capital on London’s markets.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the government to take a “very tough line on sanctions,” arguing that Russia needs to know there would be “serious consequences” if they took action against Ukraine.
Russia’s defence minister has said that some of the country’s troops positioned on the border with Ukraine would be returning to their bases.
Nato’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said there had been no signs of “reduced Russian military presence on the borders of Ukraine”.
But he added that Moscow’s “willingness to continue to engage in diplomatic efforts” gave “reason for cautious optimism”.
Conservative MP and former British army officer Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, warned against trusting Russian statements about the situation in Ukraine.
Speaking to the BBC’s World at One, he said: “Let’s not pretend we can believe anything that comes out of Moscow – they have lied and lied and lied.”
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