German and Italian Leaders Deny BoJo Claim They Wanted Ukraine to ‘Fold’
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walk during a bilateral meeting during the first day of the G7 leaders’ summit at Bavaria’s Schloss Elmau castle
James TweedieFormer British PM Boris Johnson conceded that the UK’s NATO allies had “sound economic reasons” for opposing sanctions on their biggest energy supplier Russia over its response to Ukrainian aggression in the Donbass — but that they soon followed Washington and London’s lead.German and Italian leaders have denied former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s claim they wanted Ukraine to strike a quick peace deal with Russia.In a briefing to a conservative British broadsheet newspaper, a spokesman for Olaf Scholz strongly implied that Johnson was lying.
"We know that the very entertaining former prime minister always has his own relationship to the truth — that’s no different in this case," the spokesman said.
“The German view was at one stage that if it were going to happen, which would be a disaster, it would be better for the whole thing to be over quickly and for Ukraine to fold,” Johnson told a US news channel on Tuesday night, admitting that Berlin had “all sorts of sound economic reasons” for not wanting conflict with Russia.”I remember the Italians, again, massively dependent on Russian hydrocarbons, at one stage simply saying that they would be unable to support the position we were taking,” he added.A source close to former Italian PM Mario Draghi said his comments in the interview in the Portuguese capital Lisbon were at odds with his previous stance. “Boris Johnson in the past has been very appreciative about Italy’s role in supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion,” the source said, stressing that Johnson went on to “praise the EU nations, highlighting tough sanctions the bloc had imposed on Russia.”
Johnson Admits Allies Had ‘Sound Economic Reasons’ for Wanting Ukraine to SurrenderYesterday, 15:43 GMTIn his interview, the former British leader said NATO eventually united around sanctions on Russia and arms supplies to Ukraine after Russia launched its military operation on February 24.On a visit to Kiev in late March, Johnson persuaded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to end talks in Turkey — then on the verge of a peace agreement with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin’s government.”What happened was everybody – Germans, French, Italians, everybody, Joe Biden – saw that there was simply no option because you couldn’t negotiate with this guy,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “The EU has done brilliantly. After all my anxieties… I pay tribute to the way the EU has acted. They have been united. The sanctions were tough.”European support for Kiev has been called into question in the past week after Zelensky falsely claimed Russia had attacked neighbouring NATO member state Poland with two cruise missiles, urging the US-led bloc to retaliate militarily.