A proud, free and independent nation was invaded today, without any provocation. As Putin's tanks rolled into Europe, this is not peacekeeping, as he claims.
This is nothing less than an attempt to overturn the international order, which Russia helped to establish. In short, these are dark times for Europe and the world. This is no time now to indulge in navel-gazing. There is no time to prevaricate – we’ve already done too much of that.
There is no longer any excuse to delay imposing the toughest possible sanctions, and we must cripple Russia’s economy.
Even with the limited sanctions announced on Tuesday, major components of the Russian economy have collapsed.
Moscow’s stock exchange collapsed by 45 percent overnight.
The rouble has hit a new low against the dollar. Putin’s actions have already sunk the Russian economy – and this is pressure that we need to sustain. Sustain, and strengthen.
We now need to truly make the Russian pips squeak.
Putin presides over an economy about the size of Spain’s – but that economy is resilient. The time for ratcheted sanctions is over.
We need to broaden the scope of our sanctions and need to do so now.
The Ukrainians who flew our flag in the Supreme Council of Ukraine known as the Rada were not doing so in the expectation that we would just make life harder for a few oligarchs.
For sanctions to work, they must have teeth.
And they must be wide-reaching, not narrow in focus.
Sanctions worked to end the apartheid regime in South Africa – and that was through universal measures.
That’s why I’m calling for a blanket ban on the City – including accountancy and law firms - dealing with Russian businesses and the State itself.
Sanction the defence, energy, mineral and oil firms - Putin's wallet.
It must be impossible for anyone connected to Putin to use London’s world-class financial centre for their dodgy deals. We must remove the ability of Russian banks and the Russian state to use the international financial system.
This is how we crash their banks and see Putin fail. This is how we bring a meaningful cost to Putin's actions.
However, we have very little time. If sanctions don't see Putin draw back within 24 hours, we should launch cyber strikes against Russian critical infrastructure and financial systems. We must stop the bloodshed.
Putin wants a warm-water port.
Well, let’s make it useless.
Let’s work with Turkey to ban Russian ships – commercial or military – from sailing through the Bosphorus.
Ukraine has called for this – it’s Turkey’s duty to respond.
We can’t allow his ships to sail unhindered through the Mediterranean.
The Black Sea is the perfect place for NATO’s fleets to conduct our own naval exercises. Let’s be confident, and do it. It might help if Putin saw our military might.
Meanwhile, we need to make sure we provide the humanitarian support needed to our allies.
Satellite phones, blood, ambulances, medical expertise, and to help keep the Internet switched on. And we need to make sure that we monitor human rights abuses, and hold Russia to account.
This article originally appeared in The Daily Express on 24th February 2022
