Former PM Tony Abbott makes huge call to ‘pause Putin’ at the Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa, Ukraine
Former PM Tony Abbott has attacked Britain’s Keir Starmer as the British leader abandoned his promise to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine.
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Former PM Tony Abbott has attacked British leader Keir Starmer’s decision to abandon a “promise” to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, calling it an act of “gutlessness”.
Mr Abbott told the Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa on Saturday that a UK-led military presence should form part of ceasefire security guarantees in Ukraine, if NATO membership is off the table, to deter Russia’s Vladimir Putin from launching a further assault on the Eastern European nation.
Ukraine needed credible security guarantees if there was to be a ceasefire and not just a “pause before Putin renews his assault”.
“The best one would be NATO membership,” Mr Abbott said.
“If NATO membership is vetoed, perhaps by an isolationist US President, the next best guarantee would be a strong, credible military presence … and the obvious power to lead is Britain.
“Even if there was 5000 British soldiers that needed the Ukrainians to protect them, that would be better than just the Ukrainians being on their own with nothing more than the meaningless words of the Budapest memorandum,” he added, referring to the 1994 security assurances for Ukraine in exchange for its nuclear disarmament.
Earlier this year, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he was willing to deploy British troops to Ukraine if a peace agreement was reached between Kyiv and Moscow.
Mr Abbott welcomed the idea and at the time suggested Australia could contribute with its own peacekeepers.
But on Saturday, retired British Army Colonel Richard Kemp, who shared the stage with Mr Abbott at a panel on UK’s interests in the Black Sea, said “the whole picture has changed”, citing Mr Starmer’s more recent comments on the dangers of putting British forces on the ground in Ukraine.
“The reality is, I don’t think Britain or any other European country is at any time in the near future going to be in the business of deploying forces into Ukraine,” he said.
“They’re too afraid of Putin and not only that but they also do not have the capability themselves.
“Putin has already threatened to attack any NATO countries that deploy into Ukraine and that I’m sure was among the contributing factors that led to Starmer’s change of tact over that force.”
He further cited comments from British defence officials, who said the country’s armed forces would not be ready to fight a war until 2027.
Questioned by Mr Abbott on how NATO could be taken seriously, he said: “I don’t think NATO can be taken seriously.”
“I’m sorry to say that but I think that’s the bitter truth.”
Mr Abbott later added, “some national leader has got to actually say we are going to do this”, drawing on Australia’s military intervention in the 1999 East Timor crisis.
“We didn’t actually have the wherewithal to do it. We were getting civilian ferries, we were begging the Americans for help but because we were going to go ahead with whatever we could scramble together, the Americans eventually felt they had to help.
“And that’s what’s needed here.”
Former Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko told the forum when he used to go on TV he used to say if everything went critical, UK forces would be with Ukraine first.
“I still believe that UK forces will be first with us,” he said.
More than 700 attendees converged on Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odessa this week for the annual security forum, which had drawn a star-studded line up of keynote speakers, including 70th United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the forum, Mr Abbott told The Advertiser his Ukraine trip would include a “catch up” with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko where he would be seeking “insights into how the war is going and what people in Australia could do to help”.
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Originally published as Former PM Tony Abbott makes huge call to ‘pause Putin’ at the Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa, Ukraine
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