Latest updates: Boris Johnson says trip to Gulf not just about securing increased oil for the west, as Ukraine conflict disrupts energy supplies in Europe
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Good morning. Boris Johnson is in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, where he has been meeting the crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. In a pooled interview, he said there was no prospect of Ukraine joining Nato any time soon. Asked about President Zelenskiy’s acceptance yesterday that Ukraine would not join Nato, Johnson replied:
I talked to Volodymyr [Zelenskiy], again, yesterday. And you know, of course, I understand what he’s saying about Nato and the reality of the position. And everybody’s always said, and we have made clear to Putin, there’s no way Ukraine is going to join Nato any time soon. But the decision about the future of Ukraine has got to be for the Ukrainian people and for Volodymyr Zelensky as their elected leader, and we will back him.
It’s a matter for Ukraine whether or not they decide to join Nato, and of course a matter for Nato members.
I’ve always thought that that isn’t the real issue, that it is a smokescreen. If you look at all of Putin’s public statements – his Munich security conference speech in 2007, his essay of last year – this is about recreating a greater Russia, and essentially subordinating Ukraine under Russian authority, as well as extending more broadly to other Eastern European states.
The reason for coming here is that it’s not just that they’ve got oil. They’re also some of the biggest investors here, in the Gulf, in UK renewables, in our wind farms. And that’s what we’ll be talking about.
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