‘People of Guernsey, you must reject this despot’
RUSSIA’S invasion of Ukraine has been denounced by a local senior politician, who has called for islanders to reject the full-scale invasion by more than 200,000 troops.
Economic Development president Neil Inder posted a video on social media on the events unfolding in the country, based on information given to him by his wife’s mother, who lives in Ukraine.
‘I hope the people of Guernsey will entirely reject this aggression by what can only be described as a megalomaniac or a despot or akin to,’ said Deputy Inder.
‘Those of us who are Guernsey people will know what happened in the Occupation years.’
Jonathan Le Tocq, who leads on external relations and constitutional affairs for the States, said that although islanders may feel helpless, financial sanctions imposed in recent days would have a direct impact on President Vladimir Putin’s ability to access money to fund the attack.
‘Businesses [in Guernsey] have strong links and many travel there for business regularly. People have social links and family ties there as well – it’s going to affect people in many different ways,’ said Deputy Le Tocq.
‘It may seem like something is happening in a faraway distance in a faraway country, but we cannot bury our heads in the sand. We don’t want to just fob it all off – we are all part of humanity. We have our own culture and history in Guernsey, we know what threatening behaviour looks like.
‘It’s not the end – it is the start of something and it’s very sad to see it happen. Whatever people think of Putin, his argument does not make any sense.’
Tensions between the two countries had been growing for several years, but began to gain momentum in January last year, when Ukraine asked to become part of Nato. It came to a head yesterday when missile strikes were unleashed on major cities, particularly those with military infrastructure.
Earlier this week, Guernsey instructed finance firms to freeze the assets of five major Russian banks and three billionaires.
Deputy Inder said the last time he had heard stories of family members waking up to the sound of bombing was during the Second World War.
‘Roll forward 80 years and members of my family are waking up again to what is effectively a fascist aggression against a peaceful people,’ he said.
Since the attack was launched on Tuesday, his wife has been in regular contact with her mother who lives in Odessa, a port city in the south of Ukraine, which is believed to have already been bombed.
‘They went down to look for shopping and the shelves were effectively cleared. We have friends with a 24-hour bag under their bed who will be running for the Moldova border if they need to.’
As of yesterday, it was believed that more than 4,000 people had fled to Moldova.
‘It was a real concern on Tuesday – no one thought Putin would do it and then he did it. It’s real people, real lives, and what is more important – family or politics? Family comes before everything,’ said Deputy Inder, explaining why he posted a video on Facebook yesterday.
In his address to the nation, President Putin described the invasion as way of protecting those subjected to genocide in Ukraine – an accusation which western regions have considered to be propaganda.
Roads through the capital city of Kiev were said to be gridlocked as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens attempted to leave the city while it was still possible.
