Boris Johnson outlines NATO support for Ukraine against Russia

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In an explosive attack, the Labour leader lashed out at critics of the Nato. He vowed under his tenure the opposition party would always back the defensive alliance and stand up to Russian aggression in the face of threats aimed at Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin currently has an estimated 130,000 troops massed along the border with Ukraine, prompting fears that it is preparing for a full-scale invasion.

Sir Keir’s pledge to stand up for Nato came as he travelled to Brussels to meet the transatlantic organisation’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, in a bid to break with the party’s perceived weak stance on defence under his predecessor.

Mr Corbyn is a campaigner against Nato expansion and has previously even gone as far as to call for the alliance to be disbanded.

The organisation was set up in 1949 with a pledge that members would agree to mutual defence in response to any attack from an external party.

Sir Keir wrote in The Guardian today: “To condemn Nato is to condemn the guarantee of democracy and security it brings, and which our allies in eastern and central Europe are relying on, as the sabre-rattling from Moscow grows ever louder.”

He added: “That’s why the likes of the Stop the War coalition are not benign voices for peace.

“At best they are naive; at worst they actively give succour to authoritarian leaders who directly threaten democracies.”

Mr Corbyn is currently vice-president of the Stop the War Coalition.

He co-founded the campaign group in September 2001 in protest at Nato military action, led by the US, in response to the 9/11 terror attacks.

The Islington North MP was chair of the organisation when he was elected Labour leader in September 2015.

He stepped down from the position shortly afterwards but said he would continue to support the group.

Mr Corbyn was accused of failing to back Britain in matters of defence while at the helm, including after the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 when he refused to hold Russia responsible.

The hard-left former leader left many Labour MPs shocked when he said there was not enough evidence to blame Moscow.

In a thinly veiled swipe today, Sir Keir said such “kneejerk” views only bolstered Russia.

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He wrote: “The kneejerk reflex, ‘Britain, Canada, the United States, France – wrong; their enemies – right’, is unthinking conservatism at its worst.

“To truly stop war, you need to show you are serious about standing up for peace, that you are serious about keeping your promises to your friends, and that you will always stand up to those who threaten.”

Not holing back, Sir Keir said the pacifist stance taken by the Mr Corbyn would be seen as “naivety and weakness” by President Putin.

“Moscow’s hard-line leadership won’t see a rally on the streets of Britain as a reason to pull its tanks from Ukraine’s borders.

“All it will see is naivety and weakness – virtue signallers in the west providing a smokescreen so it can go on beating up and jailing those brave individuals who dare to stand up to its despotism on the streets of Russia,” he said.

“There is no equivalence between a defensive alliance that has never provoked conflict and those who would inflict the appalling cost of war on to others.”

The Stop the War Coalition are holding an event this evening titled: No War in Ukraine — Stop NATO Expansion.

The far-left group is claims “the British Government, alongside the US, is ramping up the threat of war”.

Radical activist members want the UK to show more diplomacy towards Moscow.

Mr Corbyn, along with Labour’s Diane Abbott are due to address today’s meeting.

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