The United Kingdom actively supports Ukraine in its opposition to Russian aggression. But will this support be limited to statements and deliveries of NLAW? Will London take more radical steps We talked about this with a member of the British Parliament from the Conservative Party, John Whittingdale, who led the Ukraine-UK Friendship Group from 2010 to 2020..

The UK has handed over NLAW to Ukraine and, as the Minister of Defense notes, plans to hand over another “small batch of Javelins”. Is this military support enough

- Now we will supply more modern aviation weapons, the Minister of Defense said. It's called Starstreak, it's not easy to use, you have to teach warriors. I think that the UK, like all NATO countries, cannot allow the Alliance forces to come into direct conflict with the Russian forces, as there is a risk of an escalation that will be very dangerous.

Therefore, we want to do everything but this (NATO entry into the war. - BUT. And this means trying to make sure that Ukraine has as many military systems as possible.. A huge constant flow of ammunition and equipment is now going to Ukraine through the Polish border.

- When to expect the final decision and the first installment of Starstreaks?

- I hope very soon. Maybe they're on the road now. Such assistance does not require parliamentary approval..

The Russians shelled a children's hospital and a maternity hospital in Mariupol. Pregnant women with wounded faces were carried out from under the rubble on couches. Already known about the dead. The British government still opposes the closing of the sky over Ukraine. What else needs to happen to change his position?

— I understand that the Ukrainian people are now in despair.

Three years ago I was in Mariupol. What is happening to this city is tragic.. The Ukrainian Air Force is doing a wonderful job, Russia is not hitting its targets and they were totally surprised by the level of resistance they didn't take into account..

We will strive to provide weapons so that the Ukrainian Armed Forces can shoot down Russian aircraft and defend themselves as much as possible.. The only thing we don't see is Alliance planes.. Ukraine is a huge country. The idea of \u200b\u200bair-deploying NATO air forces to cover Ukraine would escalate the situation to a level that could potentially be catastrophic.

What do you personally think about closing the sky?

- I don't think we can do it.. I wish that we could. I think that NATO simply cannot send troops or aircraft directly to fight Russian forces..

UK has imposed sanctions against a number of Russian oligarchs. Roman Abramovich, Ilya Shumanov, Alisher Usmanov, Oleg Deripaska, Igor Shuvalov - they all have expensive real estate in your country. What will happen to this real estate \?

- Obviously, today Abramovich fell under sanctions, like the rest. This means that their assets are frozen so they can't actually access them.. Yes, Abramovich is trying to sell Chelsea Football Club, but if he does, he will not be able to personally receive the money.

It is also impossible for Russians to come to London. Who has property here in London, can't get there. The only thing is that we can't just take away the property.

— Is it realistic to confiscate this property, and send the proceeds to military assistance to Ukraine?

- For the actual confiscation of property, a legal basis will be required when it is necessary to prove in court that it was obtained illegally. And I don't think we have a chance to say it.

There were several precedents when property was taken away under the procedure of so-called warrants for wealth, when confiscation of property is allowed without proof of criminality.. It happened once or twice, but it was there that there was evidence that the money was obtained illegally.. We cannot say that Abramovich or others received their estates illegally, but we can say that they are close allies of Putin, so London is closed to them.

– Will the UK be able to become a leader in Ukrainian issues, and what does the population think about it

- Each member of parliament represents his constituency. My constituency is Maldon in the East Anglia region with 72,438 voters. Over the past few weeks, I have received many calls with offers to help Ukrainians, to host them. Therefore, Maldon is definitely for Ukraine.

I think that in Britain many people know Ukrainians, many Ukrainians live here. This is a country in the center of Europe. These are people who share our values, this is a democratic sovereign country, we are Christians, we have strong ties. Therefore, there is very strong support.

Is the UK planning another round of sanctions against Russia

- Firstly, the problem is that we are trying to coordinate sanctions against individuals, and they are more effective if all countries do it. That is, if you can’t get to London, then Paris and New York should also be closed..

Now every country is affected by sanctions, as the price of energy carriers increases. The UK has a low dependence on Russian gas, we supply gas from Norway, but it is a trading unit and if the international price of gas rises, it will affect all of us. We are already seeing the price of fuel rise.. That is, the cost of transporting goods will also increase, and this will affect every business..

It will hurt, but this is not the kind of pain that Ukrainians experience.

- I assume that all these sanctions will roll back over time: companies will start returning to Russia, the media space will be less and less occupied with the topic of Ukraine, because the war will be protracted....

- If Russia does not stop completely, we will return to the situation that was in the 60-70s of the last century, when Russia was closed from the world. We were in a cold war, and it was much closer to Western Europe than it is now.. But the isolation of Russia is what we return to..

The Russian people are being deceived, but the truth will gradually emerge. The most important thing now is that the Russians themselves are ready to protest. The reason why we are sanctioning individuals close to Putin is because they are the people who can stop him..

– Today, the UK is very actively supporting us, but earlier, for example, it was much easier for Russians to get a visa than for Ukrainians. Has anything changed now?

— It has always been difficult to get a visa to the UK, and this, of course, was a big disappointment for me.. I have many friends in Ukraine and some of them are members of the government, even they had a hard time getting visas. We have really strict border control. Even the ambassador's wife had difficulty obtaining a visa.

Now the Parliament is trying to put pressure on the government to speed up the process of granting visas to people fleeing the conflict.. We have already stated that everyone who has relatives in the UK can get a visa. And I am personally interested in that we step up the pace in this matter..

The entire international community must make an effort to help the two million people fleeing the conflict, and, unfortunately, their number will only increase..

Read all articles by Anastasia Zagoruichik here.