Brexit stopped Ukraine invasion from succeeding, Jacob Rees-Mogg says
Jacob Rees-Mogg has stated Brexit allowed Britain to indicate “global leadership” over Ukraine, making it “impossible for Putin to succeed”.
The 53-year-old former Tory cupboard minister made the argument after being requested on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme about what had been the primary advantages of leaving the EU.
Mr Rees-Mogg stated: “The leadership shown by Boris Johnson, which he could only do because he was not bound by sincere cooperation, ensured that a coalition was set up which made it impossible for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin so succeed.
“We had been capable of present international management over Ukraine. Putin would most likely have invaded Ukraine efficiently if the UK had been sure in by the requirement of honest cooperation and had needed to observe a Franco-German line in coping with Russia, which is what we did in 2014.”
He echoed feedback made by the previous prime minister, Mr Johnson, in Washington DC in February.
Mr Johnson stated quitting the European bloc allowed Britain to “do things differently” whereas offering weapons to Kyiv.
“I seriously think that it was in part because of Brexit that we were able to take a decision and to have an approach that was very distinct from the old EU approach, which was, by the way, all governed by the fabled Normandy Format, which was agreed in Normandy in 2014,” he stated.
“For causes that at the moment are obscure to me, the British authorities determined they didn’t wish to be concerned on this. France and Germany led it, that was the EU framework.
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“If we’d stuck with that, I don’t believe we would have delivered the NLaws [anti-tank weapons] and I think we would have taken a very different approach, to be perfectly frank.
“I believe due to Brexit we have been capable of do issues in a different way and I hope in a manner that has been helpful to Ukraine,” Mr Johnson added.
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Since the Russian invasion, the UK has committed £4.6bn in military assistance to Ukraine, second only to the US, and is also training thousands of soldiers from the country.
This week, the government announced that it would be sending long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine.
The EU can be offering non-lethal and deadly arms, the primary time the bloc has ever provided such weapons to a 3rd nation.
It has dedicated simply over €4.6bn (£4.04bn), and lots of European international locations have donated navy {hardware} resembling Leopard tanks.