Topics: World News, UK News, Ukraine, vladimir putin, Boris Johnson, Russia
The Russian government has labelled Boris Johnson as the 'most active' anti-Russian world leader, criticising the British government's response to the war in Ukraine and stating that it would lead nowhere.
RIA News Agency quoted Kremlin official Dmitry Peskov as having said: "As for Mr Johnson, we see him as the most active participant in the race to be anti-Russian.
"It will lead to a foreign policy dead end."
Johnson recently announced further support packages to Ukraine to aid the fight against Russia, and called for more sanctions from Western nations aimed at stopping Russia from using gold reserves.
Speaking before a NATO summit in Brussels, Johnson said that Ukraine's allies in the West must 'tighten the economic vice' on Vladimir Putin and Russia, stating that Putin had crossed 'red lines' in targeting attacks towards civilians.
He said that Putin had 'already crossed the red line into barbarism' and added: "We've got to step up. We've got to increase our support.
"We've got to tighten the economic vice around Putin, sanctioning more people today, as we are, sanctioning the Wagner Group, looking at what we can do to stop Putin using his gold reserves."
The Wagner Group he mentioned is a private military firm that is thought to provide close support to the Russian armed forces.
Other suggested targets for sanctions include Gazprombank and state-controlled shipping firm Sovcomflot.
Johnson also recently announced that the UK is to send another 6,000 anti-tank missiles and other weaponry.
The UK has already sent 4,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, but will now send 3,000 more as well as around the same amount of what the government described as 'high-explosive missiles'.
The UK is also to send another £25 million in aid money to the country.
The Prime Minister is expected to set out further plans to aid the military effort with intelligence and long-range weapon support.
Ukrainian military officials have said recently that whilst they have plenty of equipment to stop tanks at short range, they currently lack the military hardware to do that at longer distances.
The USA has also agreed to take in as many as 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war, according to reports.
President Joe Biden is also at the NATO summit, as well as meeting with G7 and European Council leaders in Belgium.
Biden is expected to discuss with NATO how the USA can provide more support to Ukrainian forces as well as bolstering NATO's own defences in Poland and along the eastern front with Russia.