Propping up ‘corrupt Zelensky regime’ wrong: UK party leader to Sunak

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
16 Jan 2023 11:34

Heritage Party leader David Kurten has slammed the decision of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to send main battle tanks to Ukraine.

A British army’s Challenger 2 main tank (Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land)

UK Heritage Party leader David Kurten slammed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's decision to send main battle tanks to Ukraine, saying the UK should be working to de-escalate the crisis instead.

“Sunak is wrong to send British tanks to Ukraine. The UK government should be trying to de-escalate the Ukraine conflict, not prolonging it by supporting the corrupt, Nazi-infested Zelensky regime,” Kurten said in a tweet late on Saturday.

Sunak is wrong to send British tanks to Ukraine.
The UK government should be trying to de-escalate the Ukraine conflict, not prolonging it by supporting the corrupt, Nazi-infested Zelensky regime.https://t.co/QTX6BjudCi
— David Kurten (@davidkurten) January 14, 2023

Last year, Kurten became an outspoken critic of the conventional narrative on the Ukraine situation. He appeared on Piers Morgan's chat show in September, saying that "the West has been poking the [Russian] bear for eight years essentially" and that "the Ukrainian Army and forces, backed by the Azov Battalion, have been shelling, maiming, and killing ethnic Russians in the Donbass for eight years."

At the time, Kurten stressed that he “simply ha[s] the opposite opinion,” arguing that the UK “should be trying to end this peacefully,” instead of delivering more lethal weapons to forces “who wear Nazi symbols and flags on their shirts,” or discussing “regime change” in Russia, which he characterized as “very dangerous talk.”

This comes as the United Kingdom government confirmed that it was planning on providing Ukraine with Challenger 2, the British Army's main tank.

The Sun newspaper reported, citing sources in the UK government, that out of 12 tanks pledged by Sunak, four would be sent immediately and eight shortly afterward.

It is worth noting that Challenger 2 was used in NATO operations in Bosnia and Kosovo, as well as the US-UK-led aggression on Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in London said the decision to send modern samples of heavy armor to Kiev was made "to persuade other, less belligerent Western countries to follow suit and provide their own tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces."