Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments on Joe Biden Calling for Regime Change in Russia

The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, at the Liaison Select Committee held on 30 March 2022.

I understand why Joe Biden said that, and I understand the frustrations that people feel about Putin. To desire a change of Government, in itself, is not an ignoble thing. There are probably plenty of people around this horseshoe—Pete, perhaps—who would like a change in this Government; that is the objective of a lot of democratic politics. But it is literally absolutely clear, it is not the objective of the UK Government. It is very, very important that everybody gets this.

We are simply setting out to help to protect the people of Ukraine, and to protect them against absolutely barbaric and unreasonable violence. That is what we are doing. There were 141 votes, Tom [Tugendhat], in the UN General Assembly against what Russia had done. That was a fantastic thing. As you know, there was a more recent vote which almost kept the number. You have to keep this simple.