Photo: Lord Michael Ashcroft
“If Russia is allowed to annex its neighbor, the world will be a much more dangerous place,” Ashcroft states.
by Marco Lopez
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 12, 2024
UK/Belizean businessman, Lord Michael Ashcroft has been sanctioned by Russia, along with 17 other persons from the United Kingdom. The decision, handed down from the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow today via a release, charges Ashcroft and a list of other British officials, historians, and academics with spreading “Russophobia”.
The European country has been in conflict with its neighbor, Ukraine, for almost two years now. The war, which has already claimed about 200,000 lives, is viewed as a proxy conflict between the Western powers and Russia, being fought by resource-poor Ukraine. Ashcroft agrees that the war being fought by Ukraine is “the West’s war,” and has become a rallying voice for increased military and financial support for the Ukrainians.
Having deep pockets himself, Ashcroft has made his contributions towards the war effort.
Moscow claims that these narratives are, “pushing the Zelenskyy regime to continue the bloodshed,” adding that as a result, the UK bears responsibility for crimes against civilians.
The release states, “Great Britain’s strategy for Ukraine, which promises only further escalation and loss of life, is regularly reflected in impudent statements by British politicians and military officials who speak with a sense of total impunity.”
One week before the release of these sanctions, which bar Ashcroft and other persons from entering the Russian Federation, the UK/Belizean businessman wrote an op-ed piece in the UK’s Daily Mail calling on the West to fulfill a moral obligation of defending Ukraine by providing weapons and money to defend the war-torn nation, and by extension all of Europe.
He recounted the words of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak.
“Giving us money or giving us weapons, you support yourself. You save your children, not ours,” Zelenskyy said.
February 24 will mark exactly two years since the start of the war which plunged Europe into protracted conflict and drove up inflation globally.
While many criticize the West for not sending soldiers, and for putting a cap on the amount of military and financial assistance provided to Ukraine, some believe that more aggressive action from Western states may lead to a threat of nuclear warfare.
Putin, on the other hand, says that the territory in question is a part of their historical homeland, lost at the fall of the Soviet Union. While many in the West believed that the impetus for the Russian invasion was because of its fear of an imminent attack by the United States and NATO allies – building the arguments of the proxy war being waged by Ukraine on behalf of the West – Putin outlined in an interview with former FOX News host, Tucker Carlson that its claim to the second largest country in Europe was a historical one.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became a separate country from Russia, and the 1994 Budapest Memorandum should have guaranteed respect of the independence and borders and prevent threats and use of force against the country.
This was necessary because the US at the time convinced Ukraine to transfer its nuclear arsenal, left behind following the Soviet collapse, to Russia.
Russia has been in breach of that pact since the 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea, and now since February 2022, with the invasion of Ukraine. In defense of the 2022 invasion, which President Putin called a “special military operation”, Russia charged NATO with expanding up to its borders.
The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, stated in a January 2024 statement that “Ukraine had been fighting for the principles of freedom and democracy.”
Ashcroft, in his opinion piece, said that he has been to the war-stricken nation at least 5 times since the start of the conflict.
Of note, neither the West nor Russia is making steps towards negotiating an end to the conflict or a ceasefire. Western proponents like Ashcroft are asking for more military weapons and funds to be pumped into Ukraine to “defeat” Russia. The Russians claim that Ukraine is being run by neo-Nazis – despite its president, Zelenskyy, and many top officials being of Jewish descent.
Both the West and Russia are treating the people of Ukraine and its citizens, respectively, as expendable casualties.
Sometimes controversial Belizean businessman, Lord Michael Ashcroft is front and center in promoting the interests of the West and has been sanctioned by the Russian authority for it.
