Ukraine: Liz Truss on the importance of intelligence
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The Foreign Secretary urged Western allies to “tighten the ratchet” on the Russian President and impose further sanctions on Moscow. Ms Truss went on to warn Putin could turn to “more and more extreme violence”, as seen in Russia’s attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol.
Speaking to the Telegraph, the South West Norfolk MP argued Putin must be offered no concessions and must be “seen to lose” in Ukraine.
According to the broadsheet, Ms Truss called for Russia to be fully excluded from the international payment system SWIFT.
The UK had pushed allies in the European Union to block the Kremlin from the programme.
However, she also claimed the West needs to “keep the pressure up on Putin” and wanted to see a clear timetable to reduce dependency on oil and gas across the G7.
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But Ms Truss also criticised Moscow for playing an “appalling cat and mouse game” with Ukrainian civilians over its ceasefire claims.
The Foreign Secretary made a visit to Washington to meet with her US counterpart Antony Blinken.
Following their meeting, she said: “We discussed what more sanctions we can put on.
“We’re very clear the ratchet needs to be tightened.
“The sanctions are already having a debilitating effect on the Russian economy.
“Russia is being pushed back to a pre-globalised age.
“People can’t use their Apple Pay any more, the Russian government can’t access a lot of the foreign currency reserves that they’ve had.
“People can’t go to McDonald’s in Moscow any more.”
Mr Truss also told the Telegraph the West had got complacent with Moscow.
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The Foreign Secretary said: “We have let our defences down.
“We must never allow that to happen again and I don’t just mean military defences.
“Over the past 20 years, NATO hasn’t spent enough on defence, but we’ve also allowed our economy to become strategically dependent on Russian oil and gas.
“I don’t just mean the UK, I mean the West generally.
“We cannot be dependent again, or complacent again, about the threat that authoritarian regimes pose.”
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