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UK’s Johnson floats idea of alliance as alternative to EU, newspaper reports

According to the sources, the British initiative would imply an alliance of countries determined to counteract Moscow’s policies

MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed establishing a new political, economic and military alliance as an alternative to the European Union, the Corriere della Sera said on Thursday citing sources.

The new alliance would have Great Britain as its leader and would include Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as potentially Turkey at a later date, the sources told the Italian newspaper. According to them, the British initiative would imply an alliance of countries jealous of their national sovereignty, liberal in economy and determined to counteract Moscow’s policies.

The British premier first shared his idea with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky during his visit to Kiev on April 9, the newspaper said, yet Kiev neither rejected the proposal, nor supported it. According to the Corriere della Sera, Zelensky could take Johnson’s initiative more seriously if the EU does not recognize Ukraine’s status as a candidate for accession to the bloc when its leaders meet for a summit on June 23-24.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would launch a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the leaders of the two Donbass republics. The United States, the EU, the UK and a number of other countries responded with wide-ranging sanctions against Russia and stepped up arms supplies to Kiev.

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