From the editor
Ukrainians will likely be surprised and disconcerted by the resignation of Boris Johnson as British prime minister in the wake of a string of scandals, including covering up for a minister who repeatedly groped other men, but instead they should hope that a more competent leader will also be firmly on their side. It is true that the UK has been a leader in Europe in supplying arms to Ukraine, and understandable that the people of the country would be concerned that this could change. But at the same time this stance has been one of the few solid achievements the Conservative Party can boast about – including as a supposed advantage of leaving the EU – so it would be foolish to reverse it.
Ukrainian flags fly outside public buildings and in town squares all over the UK, and helping Ukrainian refugees has been a way for some to take their minds off their own financial issues. It is always sobering to remember that some people have been suffering far more, escaping from bombing, seeing friends and relatives killed and their homes destroyed. Ukrainians should also understand why British people are sick of the corruption they have seen over the past few years, with Johnson handing lucrative Covid-related contracts to cronies during the pandemic and spending other people’s money lavishly on his own flat refurbishment – not to mention the illegal parties that were held in Downing Street while no one else was allowed to meet in person. Besides, Johnson was embarrassingly lax on security, admitting on Wednesday that he socialised with former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev in Italy, and having an affair with his future wife Carrie Symonds while he was foreign secretary.
The ideal candidates to lead the UK, at least from the pool of Conservative MPs who are eligible, would be the likes of Tom Tugendhat or Ben Wallace, who have both taken very strong positions against Russian aggression and also threats from China and other dictatorships. “Hot” war and “hybrid” war are directly connected to the economic issues that the UK and most other countries in the world are experiencing, so countering these threats must be a priority. Without solving the international problems, domestic ones can’t be fixed. Other potential British prime ministers, such as Liz Truss or Michael Gove, are weaker and less convincing personalities, who could be swayed by nefarious players, and Ukrainians would be justified in feeling uncertain about several in the field of contenders.
Another possibility is that there could be a general election in the UK within the next few months (two years ahead of schedule) to resolve the political crisis. The Labour Party is about 10 points ahead of the Conservatives in the polls, and the Conservatives have already been in power for 12 years, so there is a good chance that there would be a complete change of administration. This could be slightly more worrying for Ukrainians, as there are some on the hard left of the Labour Party who are more sympathetic to Vladimir Putin than to Volodymyr Zelensky. Labour leader Keir Starmer has pledged support for Ukraine’s cause, but the party is notorious for infighting and he could face a backlash, with some thinking Russia can be placated with concessions.
Putin will say that the turmoil in the UK is more evidence that democracy means chaos, and it’s far more sensible to keep the same leader for 22 years or more. His mouthpiece Maria Zakharova has already claimed absurdly that the UK’s problems are due to it devoting too much effort to countering Russia. But the truth is that spontaneous democratic change is always preferable to a rotting dictatorship where people are jailed for the slightest expression of doubt about the regime. It's messy, but it’s freedom.
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Arrested scientist dies; hockey player conscripted
Novosibirsk scientist Dmitri Kolker, 54, who was taken by law-enforcement from a clinic where he was in the final stages of care for terminal cancer and threatened with a treason charge, has died. Kolker, an expert on lasers, had been accused of sharing state secrets with the Chinese. Police removed a makeshift memorial to Kolker that was placed on a monument to scientists who were victims of Soviet repressions in the research town of Akademgorodok outside Novosibirsk. Another Novosibirsk scientist, 75-year-old Anatoly Maslov - chief researcher at the Institute of Theoretical & Applied Mechanics - has since been arrested for treason and taken to Moscow.
Meanwhile ice hockey goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov, who was due to play for the Philadelphia Flyers in the US NHL, has been forcibly conscripted and sent to do his military service in the Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. This is the same place where Ruslan Shaveddinov, a top aide to Alexei Navalny, was sent to do military service in 2019.
Businessman linked to Gazprom found shot dead
Yuri Voronov, 61, the head of contractor Astra Shipping which did work for Gazprom, has been found shot dead in the swimming pool of his luxury property near St. Petersburg. He is one of several prominent Russian businessmen who have died in mysterious circumstances since the invasion of Ukraine started in February – some also linked to the gas industry. The deaths could have been murders set up to look like suicide, or they could also have been suicides prompted by financial and political pressures.
Two more captured Britons could face death penalty
The “Donetsk People’s Republic” is holding British citizens Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill and says it will put them on trial, after previously sentencing two Britons and a Moroccan to death for fighting for Ukraine. Healy is a chef from Cambridgeshire who was volunteering in Ukraine as an aid worker in Zaporizhzhia, and Hill, from Plymouth, was shown in a Russian video in military uniform. He is believed to have been fighting for Ukraine near Mykolaiv when he was captured. The “DPR” has said that the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has agreed in principle to participate in “international tribunals” to judge “war criminals” who have been fighting for Ukraine.
Brittney Griner pleads guilty
US basketball player Brittney Griner, 31, has pled guilty in a court in Khimki outside Moscow to drugs charges, after she was allegedly caught with cannabis oil in her luggage at the airport on Feb. 17. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have called Griner’s wife Cherelle to assure her that their administration is working to free the WNBA star. Griner was given a note from Biden as she arrived in court yesterday. On July 4 she had written to the president, “As I sit here in a Russian prison, along with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever.”