UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has reportedly suggested that Ukraine join a new alliance, which London is supposedly seeking to establish as a structure parallel to the EU.
Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper reported Thursday that there was a growing rift between Kiev and the EU over the bloc’s response to Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine.
The outlet’s assessment of Kiev-Brussels relations apparently stems from frequent criticisms leveled by senior Ukrainian officials at some EU member states over the amount and extent of military support they are willing to provide to Kiev, as well as the bloc’s inability to impose an embargo on Russian energy imports so far.
According to Corriere della Sera, citing people familiar with the talks, London has been actively working to set up a ‘European Commonwealth’ for more than a month now. Johnson has reportedly been trying to launch an alternative to the EU that would include the UK, Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and possibly Turkey. The new alliance would reportedly welcome nations which value their sovereignty, are proponents of economic liberalism, and are determined to repel the “military threat from Moscow.”
The group would presumably encompass political, economic, and military dimensions.