WASHINGTON, Mar 14 British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in an interview with NBC urged to «accelerate and intensify» Western military assistance to Ukraine.
«I think it's important right now that we accelerate and intensify our support for Ukraine,» he said.
The way Western countries behaved in the conflict in Ukraine, Sunak called the best course of action in case of need «to deter hostile actions from any state anywhere.»
«The right thing under the circumstances was to give Ukraine all the support it needs to protect itself,» Sunak said.
The prime minister added that arms shipments from China to Russia would be «a very worrying and dangerous development.»
«I think the UK, the US and all countries have sent a strong signal calling on China, any country not to support Russia in this conflict,» Sunak said.
When asked if he would support imposing sanctions on China if it were to supply arms to Russia, he replied: «I think that sanctions are always best done in coordination with allies.»
Sunak is in the US to attend the summit of the US-British-Australian defense partnership AUKUS, which is widely seen as a project to contain China. The leaders of the three countries have officially announced plans to build a nuclear submarine fleet for Australia.
Sunak called China the biggest threat to British economic interests and a systemic challenge to the world order.
«The behavior we've been seeing lately from China is worrying,» the premier said, accusing the Chinese authorities of «increasingly authoritarian behavior at home» and pursuing an increasingly assertive foreign policy.
Earlier, Russia sent a note to NATO countries because of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. The Kremlin stated that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.