In the Guardian today, The Russian Foreign Ministry is reported as follows on Boris Johnson’s cancellation of his talks with the Russians about events in Syria.
The Ministry said the cancellation showed a “fundamental misunderstanding or lack of knowledge of the events in Syria, Russia’s efforts to settle that crisis and the general objectives of diplomacy”.
“The decision to call off Johnson’s visit to Moscow confirms once again doubts in the presence of added value in speaking to the UK, which does not have its own position on the majority of present-day issues, nor does it have real influence on the course of international affairs, as it remains ‘in the shadow’ of its strategic partners. We do not feel that we need dialogue with London any more than it does.”
Russia’s embassy in London, meanwhile, said it was “deplorable” that Johnson felt unable to meet his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. It tweeted mocking polls, including one that sought views on Donald Trump “as a wartime leader and Johnson as his lieutenant”.
Talking only about the narrow matter of the statement, and not talking about who has or has not carried out what attacks in Syria, it seems to me that Russia is acting like a jilted lover pretending the other party doesn’t mean anything to it, when in fact it does.
I mean, why spend so much time and so many words explaining how Britain is inconsequential? If it is inconsequential, a single short sentence would have sufficed – something like ‘No loss.’