Boris Johnson to pressure Russia to pull out of Ukraine and Syria on first Foreign Secretary visit to country in five years
The Foreign Secretary will meet face-to-face with his Russian counterpart he has publicly mocked several times, months after calling for demos outside the nation's Embassy to protest “war crimes”
BORIS Johnson will travel to Moscow next month in to pressure the Kremlin into pulling out of Syria and Ukraine.
He will become the first Foreign Secretary to visit Russia since its relations with Britain went into deep freeze five years ago.
And he will come face-to-face with the opposite number he has publicly mocked several times.
In a major development, Mr Johnson will fly out to meet Sergei Lavrov for talks within the next few weeks.
It comes just months after he called for demos outside the Russian Embassy in protest over its “war crimes” in bombing the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Bojo also scorned his counterpart at the Tory conference last year. He revealed he had asked for a show of hands for who was in favour of democracy when the two came together at a UN general assembly.
Sources insisted he isn’t going to “cosy up” to the Russians – and that his mission will be to “engage but beware”.
But he won’t baulk at “looking the Russians in the eye” over their controversial foreign excursions, as he thinks going head-to-head is the best way of securing change.
Last night the Foreign Office stressed the trip does not mean a “return to business as usual” and that Mr Johnson will be “robust” in defending existing British policy.
But the trip will inevitably lead to questions about whether Mr Trump’s more pro-Russia tone compared to predecessors has influenced the change in approach.
Britain’s relations with Russia have been strained over concerns over the country’s aggression in Ukraine and since an inquiry blamed President Vladimir Putin for the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko.
An insider said: “The Foreign Secretary is not going in order to reset the relationship. He has been clear in all his calls with
Mr Lavrov that this can’t happen until they change course on issues such as Ukraine.
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“He intends to say the same things face to face as we do in public and Parliament about the Russian activites and while it may be a tough visit, that is what has to be done.
“Boris has always said we can’t reset but we must engage when in our interests. I can guarantee you he will be robust in the meetings and defend our position. This is absolutely not about cosying up. In fact, quite the opposite.”