AMERICA’S shift in stance on the Ukraine war has made it the “least reliable partner in Nato”, according to an SNP MP.
Stephen Gethins, the MP for Arbroath and an international relations expert, said Donald Trump’s conciliatory approach to Russia, which Ukraine fears will result in the loss of swathes of its territory, had shaken the military alliance.
Speaking on Bylines Scotland Radio, Gethins (below) said: “The US is now the least reliable partner in Nato.”
He said Keir Starmer should, on his upcoming trip to the States, urge Donald Trump not to work with “bullies and aggressors” like Russia and China.
Gethins said: “He should tell Donald Trump that if you believe you are a democrat you must work with your democratic partners.
“Not the Russians and the Chinese, who are bullies and aggressors. They don’t share our democratic values.”
Asked about Starmer’s plan to send UK troops to Ukraine as a peacekeeping force, Gethins added: “You cannot possibly conceive it as the UK going it alone.”
Defence insiders have also cast doubt on the suggestion, with ex-Army chief Lord Dannatt saying that the UK military is “so run down” that it would not be capable of leading a deployment to Ukraine.
Gethins added: “No one individual state in Europe has the capacity to respond on its own to the threat from Russia. We must pull together as European democracies. That includes the UK getting over Brexit.”
The SNP MP’s intervention comes amid an escalating war of words between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The American president has accused Zelenskyy of being a “dictator”, while the Ukrainian said his opposite number was being manipulated by Russian misinformation, after Trump made a jibe about his polling numbers.
American and Russian officials met earlier this week to lay the groundwork for peace talks and a meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin is expected soon.
