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UK diplomacy ‘worthless’ says Russian UN official, hours before Boris Johnson due to discuss Ukraine with Vladimir Putin

  • Dmitry Polyanskiy, deputy ambassador to the United Nations, says there is ‘always room for diplomacy but frankly we don’t trust British diplomacy’
  • Johnson visited Ukraine on Tuesday, is expected to talk to Putin on Wednesday; Ukrainian President Zelensky is focused on ‘peace’

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Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to a reporter’s question during a press conference with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday, following talks in the Kremlin. Photo: AP
Agence France-PresseandReuters
A senior Russian official at the United Nations on Wednesday slammed British diplomacy, hours before British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to speak to Vladimir Putin to try to defuse the Ukraine crisis.

“There is always room for diplomacy, but frankly, we don’t trust British diplomacy,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, deputy ambassador to the UN told Sky News.

“I think in recent years British diplomacy has shown that it is absolutely worthless,” he added. “I really don’t want to offend anybody, especially my good friends, British diplomats, but really, the results are nothing to boast about.”

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Johnson visited Kyiv on Tuesday, warning that Russian forces massed on the border represented a “clear and present danger” to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after a joint press conference following their talks in Kyiv on Tuesday. Johnson visited in a show of support amid growing fears in the West of a Russian attack on Ukraine. Photo: AFP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after a joint press conference following their talks in Kyiv on Tuesday. Johnson visited in a show of support amid growing fears in the West of a Russian attack on Ukraine. Photo: AFP
He was due to talk to Putin on Wednesday to try to cool fears about the Kremlin’s intent, while Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was the latest Nato leader to visit Ukraine.
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