British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a career journalist and former editor of The Spectator magazine, in an opinion piece in The New York Times published on Sunday, described Russia as a great nation and a great world power.
He wrote: "We have no hostility toward the Russian people, and we have no desire to impugn a great nation and a great world power."
He also penned: "The truth is that Ukraine had no serious prospect of joining NATO (the western military alliance) in the near future – and we were ready to respond to Russia's stated security concerns through negotiation." He added: "This (the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia) is not a NATO conflict, and it will not become one."
However, he affirmed: "(Russian President) Vladimir Putin's act of aggression must fail and be seen to fail."
Johnson, however, suggested in its article that an agreement will not be imposed on Ukraine against its will.
Incremental pressure on the Russian economic activity was applied on Sunday with Mastercard and Visa either suspending services in Russia.
