Boris Johnson urges China to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged China on Sunday to take a stand and condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Boris Johnson called on China, Moscow’s strategic ally, and other countries that had not taken a position to join Western countries in their condemnation of the Russian invasion.

“As time goes on and the number of Russian atrocities increases, I think it becomes more and more difficult and politically inconvenient for people, actively or passively, to tolerate Putin’s invasion,” the British leader said.

He considered that countries that do not want to make a decision now face “big dilemmas”.

“I think the suspicions started in Beijing,” Boris Johnson said.

The words echo those of Ukraine, which on Saturday called on China to “condemn Russian barbarism” after fresh strikes that left dozens dead.

Ukraine and the United States are concerned about possible military assistance from China to Russia or seeing Beijing help Moscow circumvent Western sanctions.

US President Joe Biden warned Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday of the “consequences” for China of China’s aid to Russia.

On Saturday, during a speech at the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool (Northern England), attended by the Ukrainian ambassador in London, Vadim Prystaiko, Boris Johnson declared that it was time to “choose between freedom and oppression”.

Referring to some “who say we are better off enduring tyranny,” the head of the conservative government felt “that they are deeply mistaken” and that it would be “wrong” to return to normal relations with Russia, even if the Russian invasion of Ukraine stopped.