The Russian ambassador to the UK has been summoned to the Foreign Office in Whitehall after Vladimir Putin ordered troops over the Ukrainian border.
Liz Truss called Andrei Kelin to the Foreign Office in a diplomatic escalation of the Ukraine crisis following Russia's incursion into breakaway states in the east of the country.
Truss said Russia’s ambassador Kelin had been summoned “to explain Russia’s violation of international law and disregard of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.
She added: “We are imposing severe sanctions in response."
Kelin was meeting the senior official at the Foreign Office, permanent under-secretary Sir Philip Barton.
The move came ahead of the Prime Minister announcing an upscaled sanctions regime against Russia in the Commons as Downing Street said the deployment of Russian troops to two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine “amounts to renewed invasion of the country."
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the UK does not currently view the move as a “full-scale invasion."
Asked for the Government’s assessment of what will happen next, he told reporters: “There is no doubt that the deployment of these forces that we’ve seen reported in sovereign Ukrainian territory amounts to renewed invasion of the country. President Putin has sent his troops in, he’s broken international law, he’s repudiated the Minsk agreement."
The official added: “We believe that Russia’s actions overnight could well be a precursor to a full-scale invasion. But clearly, we want to continue to pursue any diplomatic avenues that exist and we’ll be speaking to other world leaders, as I say, and urging Russia to step back from this action.”
The PM’s spokesman went on to say: “I think what is true is that we do not see a full-scale invasion currently taking place. As I say, we have seen the deployment of these forces, which does amount to an invasion in that area. I wouldn’t say necessarily it’s a two-step process, but we will continue to see if there are ways to get Russia to pull back.”
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