12 2GM Tuesday March 15 2022 | the times
News
Boris Johnson’s attempt to encourage
Saudi Arabia to increase the supply of
oil during an official visit is unlikely to
have a significant impact this year, gov-
ernment sources have admitted.
The prime minister will fly to the
Middle East tomorrow for a three-day
trip during which he will encourage
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates to boost production.
He is pushing the oil-rich nations to
use their spare capacity to bring down
wholesale oil prices, which have in-
creased since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Britain has vowed to phase out im-
ports of Russian oil by the end of this
year. Johnson hopes that a shift by
Saudi Arabia could limit the impact of
the cost-of-living crisis.
However, a Whitehall source there
were significant technical and political
hurdles. “It’s not something that’s going
to happen this year — it’s the start of a
conversation,” the source said. “This is
about the medium to long term.”
Johnson believes that he can use his
relationship with Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi
Arabia to encourage the country to in-
crease production. Russia produces five
million barrels of oil for export while
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates have the capacity to increase
their production by threee million
barrels.
Mohammed is refusing to speak to
President Biden after he was accused of
orchestrating the murder of the dissi-
dent journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the
Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. On
Saturday Saudi Arabia conducted the
mass execution of 81 people.
In the Commons Tory MPs ex-
pressed revulsion at the “human rights
PM’s Saudi oil trip
has slim chance of
immediate success
Steven Swinford Political Editor
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
outrage”, which they said gave Johnson
“exquisite difficulties” for his visit.
Amanda Milling, a Foreign Office
minister, said Britain “strongly opposes
the death penalty in all countries and in
all circumstances as a matter of princi-
ple” but would not say whether John-
son would raise the topic on his trip.
The nature of the relationship with
Saudi Arabia “does mean that we can
speak frankly about human rights”, she
said, adding that the British ambassa-
dor in Riyadh had raised concerns.
While refusing to discuss Johnson’s
trip, Milling said: “It’s important that all
partners work together to ensure the
stability in energy markets.”
Crispin Blunt, a Conservative former
justice minister, said that “emptying
death row” through a mass execution
“represents a new low for human rights
and criminal justice in the kingdom”
and urged Johnson to “make clear to
the crown prince how appalled friends
of the kingdom are”.
He asked Johnson to seek assurances
on human rights while in Saudi Arabia
and said ministers should “recognise
the exquisite difficulties that this has
presented to our prime minister”.
James Gray, a veteran Tory back-
bencher, said that the trip would be a
“very good opportunity to make our
points about this being an absolute
human rights outrage in the strongest
possible terms”. Julian Lewis, Conserv-
ative chairman of the intelligence and
security committee, urged ministers to
ensure that “in seeking to lessen our de-
pendence upon one source of oil and
gas, we do not end up creating a de-
pendency on another unreliable and
sometimes hostile regime”.
Fay Jones, the Tory MP for Brecon &
Radnorshire, said: “What happened in
Saudi Arabia was a gross violation of
human rights and places strain on glob-al relationships, which are crucially
important right now.”
The prime minister’s official spokes-
man said: “Diversifying our energy
supply is important, as is boosting
renewable energy. There are no quick
fixes [to rising energy bills] but we do
want to reduce the volatility and bring
prices down.”
Johnson conceded last night that the
West made a “terrible mistake” by con-
tinuing to import Russian oil and gas
after the 2014 invasion of Crimea. In an
article for The Daily Telegraph, Johnson
wrote: “As long as the West is economi-
cally dependent on Putin, he will do all
he can to exploit that dependence. And
that is why that dependence must —
and will — now end.
“When Putin invaded Ukraine the
first time around, in 2014, the West
made a terrible mistake. The Russian
leader had committed an act of violent
aggression and taken a huge chunk out
of a sovereign country — and we let
him get away with it.”
6 A Saudi Arabian blogger released
after ten years in prison for “insulting
Islam” has been banned from travelling.
Raif Badawi, 38, was told he must wait
another decade to be reunited with his
wife and their three children, who fled
to Canada after his arrest.
Badawi became a symbol for freedom
of expression when he promoted liberal
views in the conservative society, in
part via his website Free Saudi Liberals,
but he was seen as a threat by the
government. As part of his punishment
in 2012 he received 50 lashes a week for
20 weeks, to global outrage. Amnesty
International has called on King
Salman to overturn the travel ban.
Iran is playing the West for suckers,
Melanie Phillips, page 30
Johnson is justified in trying to advance
Saudi relations, leading article, page 33Volunteer fighters unlikely
to face terrorism charges
Fiona Hamilton
Crime and Security EditorBritons who travel to fight for Ukraine
are unlikely to face terrorism prosecu-
tions as that would risk playing into
President Putin’s hands, The Times has
been told.
Jonathan Hall QC, the independent
reviewer of terrorism legislation, said
prosecutions were considered unviable
for several reasons, including that it
would send the message that people
fighting against Russia were terrorists.
He added that it would play into Putin’s
false narrative that Ukraine was run by
neo-Nazis.
He said the difficulties were high-
lighted by the failed prosecutions for
terrorism of Britons who travelled to
Syria to support Kurdish forces fighting
Islamic State. It proved how hard it was
to prosecute anyone fighting for a side
backed by the British government, he
said.
Hall added: “It is very hard for the
government to say we will arm Ukraini-ans but we will agree to prosecute Brit-
ons who fight... it would be very hard
for prosecutors to get those cases past
juries. That’s not to minimise the seri-
ousness of people going to fight.”
The Foreign Office’s travel advice
states that travelling to fight “may
amount to offences against UK legis-
lation and you could be prosecuted on
your return to the UK”.
Ministers said Russia could view the
presence of British troops who had
gone Awol to fight as an excuse to view
the UK as a “belligerent” in the conflict.
The Terrorism Act, which defines ter-
rorism as violence “for the purpose of
advancing a political, religious, racial or
ideological cause”, may be applicable.
Hall said the risks were high for Brit-
ons who fought, because of the dangers
of being taken prisoner and used in
Russian propaganda. Soldiers who
went absent without leave to travel
could face a court martial for desertion.
The Ministry of Defence has said a
“small number” of soldiers had gone
Awol to fight in Ukraine.Analysis
F
or three years
Crown Prince
Mohammed bin
Salman has
been a pariah
(Richard Spencer writes).
The only world leader
who has shaken his hand
in public since the
murder of the journalist
Jamal Khashoggi in
October 2018 has been a
grinning President Putin.
Now, suddenly, the
West is sitting at the feet
of Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich
leaders once again.
The prince could
extract a high return for
allowing his former allies
to kiss and make up, in
the pursuance of lower oil
prices. In another sign of
Saudi Arabia’s shift to
Russia, the two have co-
operated in recent years
to keep it high enough to
fund their budgets.
In a scary moment for
both at the start of thepandemic, the oil price
fell on the world markets
to nothing. Now it is back
above $100 a barrel.
For the prince to agree
to turn on the oil taps and
send it lower would mean
not only putting at risk
his own budget, now
heading towards surplus
again after years of
deficits, but also
annoying the one manwho stood by him during
his time of disgrace.
That is a lot to ask. He
also dislikes the
Democratic
administration, as the last
monarch King Abdullah
did President Obama’s,
for its softness on Iran,
the great regional rival.
It is easy to see what
demands he could make:
more weapons to fightthe war in Yemen, no new
nuclear deal with Tehran
and an end to criticism
over human rights and
Khashoggi’s murder.
He would perhaps be
wise not to push too far.
Countries have interests,
not friends, and despite
the criticisms from
western leaders under
pressure from their
electorates, both Britain
and America have stood
by Saudi Arabia in worse
times for the kingdom
than this. It is hard to see
Russia coming to its
rescue in a moment of
crisis, as the US did when
Saddam Hussein invaded
Kuwait and threatened
Saudi territory.
The prince is
unpredictable, however,
and may feel he wants to
make a point. In which
case the appearance of
western grovel will tempt
him.Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Vladimir PutinITAR-TASS NEWS AGENCY/ALAMYA
former British sniper
who travelled to Ukraine
after a crowdfunding
appeal said Kyiv would
not fall because
resistance fighters were
“hammering” President Putin’s
army and defending the country
“like the Taliban on steroids”.
Shane Matthews, who joined a
dedicated International Legion in
Ukraine this month, praised the
efforts of Ukrainian fighters. HeVeteran who
crowdfunded
journey to
defend Kyiv
News War in Ukraine