Putin and his regime ‘behaving like Nazis’ in Ukraine, Cameron warns UN
Vladimir Putin is a “neo-imperialist bully” and his regime are “behaving like Nazis” in Ukraine, Lord Cameron has said as he intensified the pressure on the West to support Kyiv’s war effort.
The Foreign Secretary appeared to up the ante in calling for military aid after he warned American lawmakers that failing to pass a multi-billion-dollar foreign aid package for Ukraine would be akin to the appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s.
Cameron made his appeal on Friday, in front of both US and Russian representatives at the UN Security Council in New York – on the eve of the two-year anniversary of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
He claimed Russia was failing to live up to its responsibilities, as a permanent member of the council, to uphold international peace and security.
Taking on Putin’s rationales for the war, he said: “How many ridiculous explanations have we now had for the invasion? Are they criminals, or fellow Russians? One minute Ukraine is an existential threat, the next it does not exist. Are you fighting stooges of Nato, or Nazis?
“The only people behaving like Nazis are the Putin regime: invading another country and hoping the world will be weak and let you get away with it.
“That is the simple truth: Putin believes he can take territories, redraw borders, exercise force to build his empire.”
Cameron urged the US and other allies to “stand up to Putin, not just out of sympathy for Ukraine, but because his actions in Ukraine are so dangerous for everyone else”.
He added: “If we give into the idea that one country can invade another with impunity, then we will be left in a dreadful situation where any country could face a similar fate.”
His intervention comes as Joe Biden struggles to get approval from Congress for vital military aid for Ukraine.
The bill to fund the country has passed the US Senate but faces a deeply uncertain future in the House of Representatives, where hardline Republicans aligned with Donald Trump oppose it.
Cameron said: “Respect for sovereignty lies at the heart of the international system, at the heart of the United Nations. Nothing matters more to its members than having our borders treated as inviolable.
“And that’s why nothing should matter more to us than seeing Putin fail. We must not falter, we must stand firm.”
