The Home Office and hostile ministers ensure a cold welcome for those fleeing war
Two groups of politicians have looked at the burning hospitals and ravaged cities and thought: “This is the ideal opportunity to advance my career by lying about a merciless imperial war.” The first consists of Vladimir Putin and his organised crime gang. The second consists of Boris Johnson and his ministers.
If – and I hope when – Putin’s gangsters face trial, they will plead that the boss gave them no choice. If Sergei Lavrov does not pretend the war is not a war and “we have not even attacked Ukraine”, he will lose his job and maybe more than his job as Putinism turns into Stalinism. Russia is now behaving as if 1989 never happened. The few Russians with the courage to speak out risk 15 years in jail for publishing “fake news” (or “telling the truth”, as the rest of us would say).
