Allies must do more to tackle threat from Putin, says Britain

BRITAIN’S allies must do more to help Ukraine, a senior minister declared today as Joe Biden said he would consider personal sanctions on Vladimir Putin if Russia invades.

- David Bond and Matt Watts

With more than 100,000 Russian troops on Ukraine’s eastern border, the US President and Boris Johnson have threatened the Russian leader with severe sanctions if he orders an attack.

Mr Biden piled more pressure on Moscow today as he made the rare threat of imposing sanctions on the Russian president himself in the event of an invasion. Mr Putin moving his troops across Ukraine’s border would mean “enormous consequences worldwide” and could amount to “the largest invasion since World War Two”, he said.

But the West’s response has been undermined by divisions between Britain’s European allies over which sanctions would be most effective with Germany expressing doubts over calls to impose restrictions on Russia’s access to the international Swift banking system and concerns over retaliatory steps from Moscow which might hit European countries reliant on Russian gas supplies.