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U.S. President Donald Trump needs to “understand where the threat is” and not “force Ukraine into a bad deal,” U.K. lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith told the Kyiv Independent.In an interview in Kyiv alongside another U.K. lawmaker Layla Moran on Jan. 22, Smith urged Trump not to rush his approach to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and recognize that a “totalitarian axis” of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea needs to be confronted.”Just understand where the threat is. It’s not Ukraine that’s a threat,” he said.”The threat is Russia and China, Iran, North Korea, all these states are together. So don’t force Ukraine into a bad deal,” he added.Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “make a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, warning that failure to reach an agreement would lead to increased sanctions, tariffs, and taxes on Russian goods.But his confrontational approach to the Kremlin has not been reflected in early comments about other members of the “totalitarian axis.”In comments via videolink at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, Trump said he had “always had a great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, adding that he is looking forward to “getting along with China.”Referring to the war in Ukraine, Trump said China has “a great deal of power over that situation” and that he hoped the U.S. could work with Beijing to end the full-scale invasion.Despite issuing a slew of wide-ranging directives and executive orders in his first days in office, Trump is yet to impose his long-promised tariffs on Chinese imports. He also issued a reprieve to the Chinese-owned app TikTok, which was facing a ban in the U.S. All of this signals that the White House may be open to cutting deals with Beijing in economic and business matters.Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith during an interview at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England, on Oct. 3, 2023. (Justin Tallis / AFP via Getty Images)But Smith said it was impossible to distinguish between business and geopolitics when dealing with China.”It doesn’t work,” he said, adding: “For these totalitarian states, business and politics are exactly one and the same thing.”
“For these totalitarian states, business and politics are exactly one and the same thing.”
Originally raising the issue of the “totalitarian axis” in an op-ed published on Jan. 19, Smith said events since its publication only bolstered his case, highlighting a televised conference between Putin and Xi on the day Trump took office.”It’s quite interesting because it does just restate the fact that this (totalitarian axis) is there,” he said, adding: “The only reason Russia continues in this war is because of China.”Although China has positioned itself as a possible mediator between Russia and Ukraine in future negotiations, Beijing remains Moscow’s key economic ally and leading source of dual-use goods that feed the Kremlin’s war machine.As for North Korea, in an interview on Jan. 23, Trump said he intends to reach out to Kim Jong Un, lauding him as a “smart guy” and “not a religious zealot.”Trump and Kim held three meetings during Trump’s first term as president but neither one brought progress on the diplomatic front between the U.S. and North Korea.”I’ll reach out to him again,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.Kim has become one of Putin’s key allies in the war against Ukraine, providing ballistic missiles and artillery and sending about 12,000 troops to fight in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran in her Westminster office, London, on Dec. 18, 2023. (Henry Nicholls / AFP via Getty Images)Both Smith and Moran — who came to Ukraine to support the work of the British charity Hopefull which cooks up and delivers pizzas in communities close to the front lines — said it was important to be in the country in the same week that Trump took office. The two believed it would be especially important if, in his inauguration speech, Trump hinted at forcing Ukraine to make concessions in a peace agreement unfavorable to Kyiv.”It’s interesting that Trump didn’t say that,” Moran said, adding he only alluded to Ukraine during sections criticizing former U.S. President Joe Biden’s foreign policy, and his plans for the U.S. military, the success of which would be measured “not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.””But he didn’t talk about (concessions) specifically and that can only be seen as a good thing,” Moran said.”But if Trump had said something that would have absolutely set the hares running, I thought it was personally really important (to be here).”In that eventuality, to have friends on the ground and to look people in the eye and go, ‘no, we are still on your side, you have a right to determine your own future,’ would have been really important,” she added.As for the U.K.’s support for Ukraine, Smith said he was “very proud” of the country’s consistent support for Kyiv which has been in contrast to some of Kyiv’s other European allies.Slovakia and Czechia are “sliding in the other direction,” Germany “simply wasn’t prepared for any of this,” and France “seems to play fast and loose with the whole issue.””One day, they’re gung-ho, the next day they’re flirting with the idea of peace. Macron doesn’t quite know where he’s going to go one day to the next,” he added.Transfer of Ukrainian Air Force personnel to infantry continues despite scandalThe Ukrainian military command’s plan to throw high-skilled Air Force personnel into the infantry was said to be halted when the practice gained nationwide attention, followed by a condemnation from President Volodymyr Zelensky. Soldiers, who spoke to the Kyiv Independent on conditions of anonymity…
Chris York
News Operations Editor
Chris York is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. Before joining the team, he was head of news at the Kyiv Post. Previously, back in Britain, he spent nearly a decade working for HuffPost UK. He holds an MA in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds.Read more
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