Keir Starmer and his European allies slapped down the idea of lifting sanctions against Russia today and sent a clear message to Donald Trump.
The prime minister’s group of around 30 nations prepared to defend Ukraine after the war ends – known as the “coalition of the willing” – met in Paris on Thursday.
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It came after Russian president Vladimir Putin said he would only agree to a US-brokered peace deal with Ukraine if economic penalties imposed on Moscow were dropped.
While the White House has said it will “evaluate” the Kremlin’s suggestions, European leaders flat-out rejected it – and suggested hiking up the sanctions instead.
Speaking alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has pushed for sanctions to be increased, Starmer accused Putin of “playing games” and “filibustering”.
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He said: ”[There is] complete clarity that now is not the time for lifting of sanctions.
“Quite the contrary, what we discussed is how we can increase sanctions to support the US initiative, to bring Russia to the table through further pressure from this group of countries.”
Starmer also said a peace deal should happen soon, noting: “It means increasing the economic pressure on Russia, accelerating new tougher sanctions, bearing down on Russia’s energy revenues, and working together to make this pressure count.”
French president Emmanuel Macron told a press conference that they “unanimously” agreed sanctions should not be lifted against Russia until “peace has clearly been established”.
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Similarly, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said stopping sanctions would be a “serious mistake”.
He added: “It makes no sense to end the sanctions until peace has actually been achieved, and unfortunately we are still a long way from that, as you can see.”
The US announced this week that both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to end fighting in the Black Sea.
But Moscow later said it would only implement the deal if some sanctions imposed on Russian banks and exports are lifted.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio then told reporters the US is “going to evaluate” Russia’s terms.
The Trump official said they will be “sitting down, going through proposals, getting their impressions of the conversations, so we can more fully understand what the Russian position is, or what their ask is in exchange.”
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The remark was a U-turn from just three weeks ago, when Trump used the threat of further sanctions to pressure Russia to the negotiation table.
Starmer set up the “coalition of the willing” earlier this month after the Trump administration signalled it wanted a quick resolution to the Ukraine war, even if that meant settling on Putin’s terms.
Starmer told the press on Thursday that the coalition has a “consensus” now which is “stronger and broader than it’s ever been”.
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He said military chiefs from the UK, France and Germany will meet with their counterparts from other nations to look at how they could put British boots on the ground in Ukraine to deter further Russian aggression in the event of a peace deal.
But he reiterated that “this will require the engagement and support of the United States”.
Starmer also dismissed Russia’s warnings against triggering a direct conflict with Nato, saying: “In terms of what Russia says, we know what Russia wants, it wants a defenceless Ukraine.
“So it doesn’t surprise me that Russia is saying that their position is Ukraine shouldn’t have any capability of its own, or any assistance or help from anybody else, that rather gives away their opening stance on this and that can’t guide us in our response.”
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