downing street ukraine
© AP / Alberto PezzaliFacaden på Downing Street 10 er oplyst med farverne på Ukraines flag i London, Storbritannien den 24. februar 2022.
At vælte Ruslands præsident, Vladimir Putin, er målet for den nye bølge af internationale sanktioner, der er indført som reaktion på Moskvas offensiv i Ukraine, sagde en talsmand for Storbritanniens premierminister Boris Johnson til journalister mandag. Downing Street præciserede senere, at talsmanden havde 'talt forkert'.

'De foranstaltninger, vi indfører, som store dele af verden indfører, er for at vælte Putin-regimet,' sagde den unavngivne embedsmand.

Restriktionerne, der er centreret omkring Ruslands finansielle sektor, har til formål at 'påføre Putin økonomisk smerte', fortsatte talsmanden. Sanktionerne er også beregnet til at 'dæmpe den russiske krigsmaskine, når den forsøger at underlægge sig et demokratisk europæisk land,' tilføjede han med henvisning til Ukraine-konflikten.


Kommentar: Delvist oersat af Sott.net fra The truth slips out: PM's spokesman says bringing down the Putin regime is the goal, Downing street later backtracks


Further enquiry on the "regime" change remark, however, prompted the spokesman to somewhat quickly backtrack, insisting that London has not actually been actively seeking to do so.


Comment: Really?


"We are not seeking anything in terms of regime change, what we are talking about here clearly is how we stop Russia seeking to subjugate a democratic country," the spokesman said, warning "that businesses should think very carefully if they are still continuing to do anything that props up the Putin regime." Downing Street then later said the PM's spokesman "misspoke" when he claimed that the sanctions aimed "to bring down the Putin regime."


Comment: Yeah right!


The new wave of Western restrictions, that included personal sanctions against Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and against President Putin, come amid Moscow's special military operation in neighboring Ukraine launched last week. The operation's stated goal is to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk from an allegedly imminent all-out offensive by the Kiev forces, Moscow has claimed. Days before the launch of the operation, Russia formally recognized the republics as independent states.

Ukraine, however, branded the attack "unprovoked", insisting it has had no plans to attack the republics. Donetsk and Lugansk broke away from Kiev back in 2014, following the Maidan coup that ousted the democratically elected government of the country.