British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urges Russian President Vladimir Putin to step back from tensions with Ukraine

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will visit Russia in the coming days.

London:

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, urging him to back down from escalating tensions over Ukraine, Downing Street said on Friday.

Johnson “will reiterate Russia’s need to step back and engage diplomatically when he speaks to President Putin this week,” a Downing Street spokesman said, without specifying when this would take place. on which day.

The British Prime Minister is “determined to accelerate diplomatic efforts and strengthen deterrence to avoid bloodshed in Europe”, Downing Street said.

Johnson will visit the area in the coming days.

Relations between Russia and the West are at their lowest point since the Cold War after Moscow deployed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border.

The UK Foreign Office is expected to announce a tough sanctions regime against Russia in parliament on Monday, aimed at strategic and financial interests.

This comes as a senior Conservative MP warned on Friday that dirty Russian money flooding into London threatens national security.

“The money hidden in accounts and assets is used to undermine the security of the UK and the British people,” Tom Tugendhat, chairman of Parliament’s influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee, wrote on a newspaper.

Johnson warned this week that Russia faces “heavier” Western sanctions than anything seen before if it invades Ukraine.

The prime minister said that Moscow risks igniting a protracted conflict that will be a “new Chechnya”.

Johnson entered crisis talks with US President Joe Biden and other European leaders on Monday.

The United Nations Security Council, which includes the UK, will hold a public meeting on the Ukraine crisis on Monday.