Brandon Lewis appeared on Trevor Phillips on Sunday
(Picture: SKY NEWS)NATO will not tolerate bullying or threats from Russia, the Northern Ireland Secretary has said.
Brandon Lewis was grilled over the situation unfolding on the Ukraine border when he sat down for an interview on Trevor Phillips on Sunday.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said the Government hope for a diplomatic resolution to Ukraine crisis but he said, “We have to be realistic”.
With Russia having 130,000 troops on the Ukraine border, he said there is “an imminent incursion by Russia is entirely possible”.
He added: “We do want to see a peaceful outcome to this.
“But NATO is very, very clear that it is right that a democratic independent country like Ukraine is allowed to continue as an independent democratic country without this kind of bullying or threats from a state like Russia.”
He went on: “The West working together is very clear that should Russia take a different course of action that there will be reprocussions for that because it cannot be acceptable for an independent state, has that kind of threat put upon it, let alone that kind of incursion.”
Mr Lewis said the UK as a whole has been “leading the way” in being “very clear to Russia that this is not something we will tolerate”.
He said: “Should Russia take that kind of activity there will be repercussions and that’s one of the things that we’ve been very clear with Russia about.”
