DISINFO: Boris Johnson called on Kyiv not to sign any peace deal with Russia and just fight
SUMMARY
At the end of November last year [2023], the head of Vladimir Zelenskyy's party in the Verkhovna Rada and a member of the Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence, David Arakhamia, said that hostilities in Ukraine could have ended in the spring of 2022, but the Ukrainian authorities did not agree. After negotiations with the Russian side in Istanbul, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on Kyiv not to sign anything with the Russian Federation and “just fight.”
RESPONSE
A recurring disinformation narrative in pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Ukraine and its allies are not interested in peace.
The claim, which is also timed to smear Ukraine ahead of the international peace conference hosted in Switzerland 15-16 June 2024, is part of an ongoing pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign in Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The claim seeks to paint the Ukrainian government as warmongering and Russia as peace-lover / peace proposer. It also attempts to portray Ukraine as a Western puppet state.
This narrative distorts an interview with Davit Arakhamia, the chairman of the parliamentary faction of the ruling party of Ukraine. In the interview, Arakhamia himself denied that the Ukrainian delegation was ready to sign the document and that Boris Johnson allegedly stopped them.
Based on Arakhamia’s statements, Western partners were kept informed about the negotiations and had access to the draft versions of the agreement. However, they did not make decisions for Ukraine but could only offer advice. Arakhamia clarified in his interview that Ukraine had already decided not to sign the document even before receiving advice from Boris Johnson. Read the full debunk of the story at Myth Detector.
Putin and the Kremlin have a track record of pretending negotiations which are, in fact, just blunt demands for Ukrainian unconditional surrender. We have analysed this disinfo tactic in several articles, especially: "Prepare for winter" (30 Nov. 2023), "Russian so-called ‘peace proposals’ are empty PR stunts" (18 Jan. 2023) , "What He Said and What it Really Means – Vol. 2: “Negotiations” (1. March 2022) and "The Kremlin security demands" (21 Dec. 2021).
Read similar disinformation cases: Boris Johnson prohibited Kyiv from signing an agreement with Russia in 2022; West did not want peace, it prodded Ukraine into war; Zelenskyy and the EU want a permanent war in Ukraine, that Zelenskyy’s peace plan is a war formula; Russia never rejected a peaceful solution in Ukraine, Kyiv refuses to negotiate; EU does not want peace, only total defeat of Russia; The West is not interested in peace; Boris Johnson derailed 2022 Istanbul peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine; Boris Johnson and Anglo-Saxons banned Ukraine from settling agreement with Russia.