Boris Johnson slams Vladimir Putin for ‘organising coups’ and says Russia ‘is up to all sorts of no good’ in Eastern Europe
Foreign Secretary accused Kremlin of ‘undermining countries in the Western Balkans’ and said it must change its ways
BORIS JOHNSON has accused Russia of organising coups in the Western Balkans in an astonishing blast at the Kremlin.
The Foreign Secretary said Russian was “up to all sorts of no good” just days after accepting an invite to Moscow.
And he drew references to “what happened in Montenegro” when slamming Russia for “undermining countries” in the Western Balkans.
Whitehall sources last month clamed Russia was behind a plot to overthrow Montenegro’s premier to stop the nation joining NATO.
Serious allegations emerged last month with claims Russia and Serbian nationalists planned to kill the then PM Milo Djukanovic in October last year.
The Kremlin has categorically denied “the possibility of official involvement”.
British and US intelligence agencies are understood to have found evidence of Russian complicity.
Boris Johnson was speaking as he attended a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels.
He insisted it was vital to engage with Russia but said the country had to change its ways.
MOST READ IN POLITICS
He said: “Let’s be very clear, Russia is up to all sorts of no good.
“They are engaged in cyber warfare, they’re engaged in undermining countries in the Western Balkans – you saw what happened in Montenegro – to say nothing of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
“So point number one is to get that message across to the Russians.”
The Foreign Office at the weekend revealed Boris Johnson was heading to Moscow in the coming weeks after an invite from his counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
He refused to say when asked if he would also be meeting Vladimir Putin.
“I can’t discuss the trip in detail at the moment,” Boris said.
The 2014 Ukraine crisis plunged ties with Moscow into a freeze reminiscent of the worst days of the Cold War and relations have been badly strained ever since.
Repeated efforts to enforce a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian rebels have failed, amid claims Moscow is manipulating the fighting.
EU efforts to forge closer ties with the Balkan states meanwhile have stalled, with Brussels seen as failing to deliver on promises of membership and economic progress.
Its foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini was heckled in the Serbian parliament during a visit last week as she spoke about developing relations between the country Serbia and its breakaway province of Kosovo.
The EU's 28 national leaders will discuss the Western Balkans at a summit in Brussels on Thursday.