UK prepares new diplomatic effort to defuse crisis in Ukraine

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, He will make a new diplomatic effort this week to defuse the crisis on Ukraine’s border, his office said on Sunday.

The statement came after his defense minister suggested that some states are not taking a strong enough stance against Russia.

Johnson will hold talks with other leaders and is especially interested in talking with the Nordic and Baltic countries, according to the statement from his office.

“The crisis on the Ukraine border has reached a critical point,” a spokesman for the prime minister said in a statement.

“All the information we have suggests that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine at any time. This would have disastrous consequences for both Ukraine and Russia,” she added.

Johnson would work with Britain’s allies to try to head off the crisis, the spokesman added.

Hours earlier, Defense Minister Ben Wallace commented in The Sunday Times newspaper that some Western countries were not tough enough on Moscow.

In addition, he stated that there was a “smell of Munich” in the diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis, alluding to the agreement that allowed Nazi Germany to annex the Sudetenland in 1938, but failed to prevent a war.

Wallace is scheduled to attend a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels starting on Wednesday to discuss the crisis. Johnson, for his part, plans to travel to Europe at the end of the week.

Two weeks ago, the prime minister traveled to Kiev to show his support for Ukraine.

The United States reiterated on Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine imminently, after concentrating more than 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and carrying out exercises in the Black Sea and in Belarus.

Moscow denies any warlike intention, but calls for an end to NATO’s expansion to the east and for Ukraine not to be admitted to the Alliance, something that Western countries reject.

Johnson’s diplomatic efforts come at a sensitive time, with voices from his own Conservative Party calling for his resignation over the “partygate” scandal.

Johnson is due to respond this week to a police questionnaire, which is investigating allegations that parties at his Downing Street office breached health restrictions.

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