On July 7, Russian authorities celebrated the resignation of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. They called him “a stupid clown” who had finally got his just desserts for providing Ukraine with weapons to fight against the Russian Federation.
Johnson announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party following pressure by ministers and Conservative Party’s lawmakers over recent scandals, but currently intends to remain as Prime Minister before the election of a new leader.
Despite Kremlin rhetoric, his resignation has no connection whatsoever to the U.K.’s support for Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin did not respect Johnson, whose parents named him after a White Russian émigré.
“He doesn’t like us and we don’t like him either,” Peskov exclaimed, adding that the Kremlin didn’t care about his resignation.
“It was an “inglorious end for a ‘stupid clown’ whose conscience would be blighted by tens of thousands of lives in this senseless conflict in Ukraine,” Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska put out on Telegram.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, said Johnson’s downfall was a symptom of the decline of the West, which was riven by political, ideological, and economic crisis. “The moral of the story is: do not seek to destroy Russia,” Zakharova stated. “Russia cannot be destroyed. You can break your teeth on it – and then choke on them.”
It is known that Johnson pitted himself fervently against the politics of Russian President Vladimir Putin even before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The prime minsiter referred to Putin as “a ruthless and possibly irrational Kremlin chief who was imperiling the world with his crazy ambitions.”
After Russia invaded on Feb. 24, Johnson made the U.K. one of the biggest Western supporters of Ukraine by providing it with weapons, implementing the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia, and urging Ukraine to defeat Russian aggression. He often ended his speeches with “Slava Ukraini,” meaning “Glory to Ukraine.”
In Ukraine, people started naming Boris Johnson “Borys Johnsoniuk” – a ‘Ukrainianization’ of his surname due to his active support for the country. He even had a croissant named after him.
So, it is hardly surprising that Russian authorities are gleeful about his resignation and using every opportunity to turn his resignation into some kind of Russian victory and oil the wheels of the propaganda machine.
In his resignation speech today outside 10 Downing Street today – July 7, Boris Johnson directly addressed the people of Ukraine with these words:
“And let me say now, to the people of Ukraine, that I know that we in the U.K. will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.
