Boris Johnson praises Putin for helping to retake Palmyra from Isis - and says Britain should send in archaeologists to restore damage

Archaeological gem: Syrian troops took the city back from Islamic State fighters on Sunday.
SANA via AP
Hannah Al-Othman28 March 2016

Boris Johnson has praised Vladimir Putin's "ruthless clarity" in providing military backing to President Assad to remove Isis from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.

The Mayor of London has said Britain should send top archaeologists to help restore the city - after Vladimir Putin exposed the West's "ineffective" response to the Syria crisis by helping liberate it from Islamic State.

The recapture by of the city, known to Syrians as the "Bride of the Desert", by Syrian government forces will be a significant blow to Islamic State.

The Russian president reportedly supplied troops on the ground to help remove Isis jihadists from the city, and Mr Johnson said Britain should now "make amends" by sending in archaeologists.

"If Putin's troops have helped winkle the maniacs from Palmyra, then (it pains me to admit) that is very much to the credit of the Russians," he wrote in his Daily Telegraph column.

"They have made the West look relatively ineffective; and so now is the time for us to make amends, and to play to our strengths.

"We have some of the greatest archaeological experts in the world. I hope that the Government will soon be funding them to go to Syria and help the work of restoration.

"It is far cheaper than bombing and more likely to lead to long-term tourism and economic prosperity.

"One day Syria's future will be glorious; but that will partly depend on the world's ability to enjoy its glorious past.

"British experts should and will be at the forefront of the project."

Experts are set to begin assessing the scale of the damage done to the 2,000-year-old ruins, with many famous monuments known to have been destroyed.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in