UK foreign secretary, asked about calling the US president-elect a ‘sociopath’, says ‘there are things I know now that I didn’t know back then’
In an interview with the Today programme this morning Sir Alex Younger, a former head of MI6, said that in any talks about an end to the Ukraine war, Britain should be particularly opposed to moves to leave Ukraine in the future neutralised.
Discussing the impact of Donald Trump’s election on Ukraine’s future, Younger said:
[Trump] will attempt to engineer a rapid solution, but he’s been pulled in two directions.
There will be a land swap. That is a terrible thing for the people who end up living under Russian rule. But fundamentally, it’s not the main argument. The main argument is whether Ukraine is a western or eastern country in future.
Donald Trump signs up to a way of doing foreign policy, which is peace through strength. That is the starting point. Donald Trump will not want a situation where the US troops that he’s got in Europe rise substantially because of further war or threats in Europe. He will not want Putin to leave emboldened from this war.
I do recognise that Donald Trump and the Republicans around him have a relationship that goes back with Putin longer than my own in fact. And they will seek to use leverage that they have. So this is a discussion that we will be engaged in.
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