The foreign ministers of Britain and France, David Lammy and Jean-Noel Barrot, have jointly expressed concern over the growing threat of global “Putinization” and reaffirmed their commitment to counter Russia’s efforts to destabilize the international order.
They stated this in a co-authored article published on the i news site, according to Ukrinform.
According to the two countries’ foreign ministers, by launching his illegal and unprovoked full-scale war of aggression in Ukraine 1,000 days ago this week, not only did Vladimir Putin accelerate the largest war on the European continent since the Second World War, he also sought to rewrite the international order.
“The UK and France will not let him do so. Together with our allies, we will do everything that is necessary to put Ukraine in the best position to achieve a just and lasting peace,” the ministers said.
Lammy and Barrot emphasized that Putin’s Russia had violated international law in countless ways – “from the bombing of civilians to the abduction and deportation of children.”
According to them, the risks are not only to European security, but the world at large.
“Putin’s aim is to set a new precedent that upends the rules-based international system, whereby countries feel they can invade their neighbors with total impunity. That brutality risks becoming the new norm and threatening peace everywhere. And as the war in Ukraine is spreading beyond Europe, we see the consequences of this attempted ‘Putinization’ for the world,” the article reads.
In this regard, the ministers mentioned North Korea’s attempts to “further destabilize” the situation in Asia and Iran, which is destabilizing the entire Middle East via its proxies.
Lammy and Barrot said that the United Kingdom and France “will relentlessly fight this campaign of ‘Putinization’.”
“We are offering a credible alternative to the world’s ‘Putinisation’ and fragmentation. An alternative grounded in technological progress, international law and multilateral action. The world can count on the UK and France to advocate these principles in the years ahead,” the ministers said.
Source: UK, France pledge to combat global 'Putinization' - foreign ministers
