Politics
UK to UN: ‘Putin, We Know Who You Are’ – Accuses Russian President of Running a ‘Mafia State
UK to UN: ‘Putin, We Know Who You Are’ – Accuses Russian President of Running a ‘Mafia State
The UK strongly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him the head of a “mafia state.” Speaking at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that far from representing the Global South like he claims while they are both on UNSC—or wanting international stability more generally anyway—it seemed clear Putin only wanted more power for himself, even if this meant turning things such as drugs, arms smuggling, and people trafficking into big sources of cash flow.
“Vladimir Putin: When you order military action against hospitals in Ukraine, we know what kind of person does this; if forces linked to you operate as murderous thugs’ on continent African leaders’ pay attention; there have been murders of political opponents within European borders again; it isn’t difficult to find out,” he added.
“The only beneficiary from the invasion is him: as usual with deals some might see as ‘criminal,’ the Russian president wants a system where everyone pays up but no questions are asked because those countries’ governments also get cut dirty money.”
At this crucial juncture in the Ukraine-Russia War, ongoing for more than two years with no end in sight, observers noted that although Ukraine has had some successes in the Kursk border region, Russia is moving steadily forward in eastern Ukraine and close to taking charge of two key cities there.
By likening President Putin to a slave owner and insisting that Russia today has imperialist ambitions like those of yesteryear, Lammy drew on his Caribbean heritage as well as personal experience: being of African-Caribbean descent, which includes both slave owners among enslaved people. Actions by Russians should be called imperialism because they are imperialism—he added for emphasis.
He said, “I am not just a foreign secretary and Briton but also a Black man—my forebears were taken from Africa in chains, so I know imperialism when I see it and will always call it out.”
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Putin has always refused to accept Ukraine’s status as an independent sovereign nation and wants to destroy its government; his military aims are directed towards controlling eastern areas such as the as the Donbas region (where currently there is an 80/20 split between Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces) plus Crimea, or as they are now known following annexation: Donetsk, Luhansk.
