Britain could lift sanctions crippling Russia if Vladimir Putin withdraws from Ukraine and commits to “no further aggression”, Liz Truss has said.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the Foreign Secretary set out a blueprint for the so-called “off ramp” that the Russian president could be offered to halt his assault on Ukraine.
Ms Truss – who revealed that she has established a “negotiations unit” in the Foreign Office to aid future peace talks – said sanctions on Russian banks, firms and oligarchs could be lifted in the event of “a full ceasefire and withdrawal”.
Putin would also have to agree to refrain from future military aggression, with the threat of “snapback sanctions” which could instantly be slapped back onto Russia.
Ms Truss’ intervention is the first official confirmation that Britain could lift its sweeping sanctions as part of a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.
It marks a shift from earlier remarks in which the Foreign Secretary said she could not see a situation in which Roman Abramovich, the most prominent of the sanctioned oligarchs, would be allowed to come to the UK again.
Her latest comments chime with remarks by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, who said that US sanctions against Russia were “not designed to be permanent” and could “go away” if Moscow changes its behaviour.
The interview comes after the Kremlin gave its first indication that it plans to scale back its invasion – as an army chief said Moscow’s “main goal” was now the “liberation” of the Donbas region, on the eastern border with Russia.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Defence said Russian forces were increasingly reliant on indiscriminate air and artillery bombardments, as they were “proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations”.
