British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that the West should not attempt to "renormalize relations" with Russian President Vladimir Putin following his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a Conservative Party conference on March 19, Johnson called Russia's military action against its neighbor a "turning point for the world."
"There are some around the world...who say that we're better off making accommodations with tyranny.... I believe they are profoundly wrong," the British leader said in the northwestern city of Blackpool.
"To try to renormalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake again, and that is why Putin must fail.
"This is a turning point for the world and it's a moment of choice. It's a choice between freedom and oppression," he said.
The prime minister's comments came as his foreign secretary, Liz Truss, told The Times newspaper that the Kremlin appeared to be using peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv as a "smokescreen" for more extreme Russian military actions.
"I'm very skeptical," Truss said in an interview. "What we've seen is an attempt to create space for the Russians to regroup. Their invasion isn't going according to plan.
"I fear the negotiation is yet another attempt to create a diversion and create a smokescreen. I don't think we're yet at a point for negotiation," she added.