Dominic Cummings has said he fears that The West’s backing of Ukraine has unintentionally served to help Vladimir Putin, with sanctions forcing Russia to deepen its ties with China.
Speaking to The i in his first newspaper interview since leaving No 10, Cummings said: “We should have never got into the whole stupid situation.
He added that the situation was not “a replay of 1940 with the pumpkin Zelenskyy as the Churchillian underdog,” claiming that the “Ukrainian corrupt mafia state has basically conned us all and we’re all going to get f**ked as a consequence. We are getting f**ked now right?”
The Ukrainian embassy has been approached for comment.
Cummings, the former top aide to ex-PM Boris Johnson, said the impact of the restrictions on Russia’s economy have backfired and only hurt Western allies of Ukraine.
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“Cost-of-living has been a massive shock, [the] sanctions regime has been much more of a disaster for European politics than it has been for Russian politics…” he claimed.
“They [advocates of backing Ukraine] said ‘Oh China will support us’. I said then ‘no China will not, China’s going to make loads of money by supplying Russia’.”
Cummings told the outlet the result has been a “war of attrition” with Moscow, who Western powers have “pushed into an alliance with the world’s biggest manufacturing power”.
While China has not provided direct lethal military support for Russia, it has backed it diplomatically in blaming the West for provoking Putin’s decision to launch the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and has refrained from calling it an invasion in deference to the Kremlin.
Beijing has repeatedly said it isn’t providing Russia with arms or military assistance, although it has maintained robust economic connections with Moscow, alongside India and other countries, amid sanctions from Washington and its allies.
Cummings also pushed back on the argument that Putin should be sent a forceful message over his aggression towards Kyiv. “What lesson have we taught him?” he asked. “The lesson we’ve taught Putin is that we’re a bunch of total f**king jokers.
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“I mean Putin already knew that before the war,” he continued. But this has emphasised it and broadcast it to the entire world what a bunch of clowns we are and America now is doubling down on trying to seize Russian assets so it’s already created a sanctions regime which is encouraging the building of alternative financial systems globally… That’s not teaching Putin any lesson only that we’re idiots.”
His comments come as the war against Ukraine’s bigger neighbor grinds on, and as Kyiv’s depleted forces wait for more troops and weapons.
Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky has been widely lauded by European allies for his brave stand against Russia’s invasion, and stewardship of the country through over two years of indescriminate attacks on civilians and brutal fighting.
In February, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said that it had verified 30,457 civilian casualties since the full-scale invasion began, including 10,582 killed and 19,875 injured, adding that the actual numbers are likely to be significantly higher.
