LONDON, March 3. /TASS/. The British government is open to consider the issue of relaxing sanctions against Russia if Moscow "stops its aggression" in Ukraine, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official representative said at a special briefing for foreign journalists on Wednesday.

"I think at the moment there is no sign of that," he noted, saying, however, that the UK would be open "to removing sanctions and easing some of this pressure," if "Russia stops its aggression and Ukraine restores its sovereignty. That would need to be done immediately."

He noted that London did not think that the proposals to exclude Russia from the UN Security Council were realistic, so the UK government is currently focusing on other measures of influencing Russia within the UN framework.

"We want and expect from Russia to uphold its obligations under the UN charter but there are no means under the charter to expel Russia without its consent. So, I think, our focus is making sure that we send the strongest possible message from as a many UN members as possible to condemn Russian actions," the spokesman said.

During the briefing, it was also stressed that the UK recommends its citizens against going to Ukraine to participate in combat since this may violate UK laws. That said, earlier, UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Liz Truss asserted that the UK authorities were supporting the call of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on foreigners to come to Ukraine and fight against Russia.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Following this, the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other countries announced the introduction of sanctions against Russian legal entities and private individuals.