Click to see full-size image. (Russian Ministry of Defense)
Russia has warned that it could strike British military targets inside and outside Ukraine in response to Ukrainian attacks on targets inside Russia using British cruise missiles.
The warning, the strongest of its kind by Russia so far, was delivered by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a news briefing in Moscow on August 27.
Zakharova said London was “one step away” from becoming legally complicit in what she called “terrorism” against Russian civilians, something she said would have “catastrophic consequences” unless Britain changed course.
“We have repeatedly warned that any British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and beyond its borders could be targeted in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory carried out using British weapons,” the spokeswoman said, according to Reuters.
“We propose that the British leadership once again carefully analyze the situation and immediately, in the most resolute and unequivocal manner, abandon the hostile, aggressive line, which can only … create the risk of the conflict escalating to an entirely new level,” she added.
A day earlier, Russia accused Ukraine of firing British Storm Shadow missiles at a shopping center in the city of Donetsk, causing casualties.
“In the Kievsky district of Donetsk, as a result of an attack by Anglo-French long-range cruise missiles of the air-launched Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG in the area of the Donetsk City shopping and entertainment center a child, a girl born in 2016 and a woman born in 1973 were moderately injured, a teenage girl born in 2010 and a woman born in 1947, men born in 1987, 1981, 1977 and 1949 were injured,” head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said on Max messenger.
Earlier in the week, Moscow said that Britain was methodically adding “fuel to the fire” after London announced on August 24 that it would allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start its own production of Storm Shadow cruise missiles. France has already given its assent to license the technology for the European missile.
The latest Russian warning also came after U.S. media reported that the CIA director’s recent trip to Moscow was to warn Moscow against any attack on NATO member states.
The Wall Street Journal and CBS News reported CIA director John Ratcliffe aimed to dissuade Russia from attacking NATO members amid U.S. intelligence assessments that Moscow could seek to test the alliance. Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on August 25, taking off from the Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
In an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck on August 26, U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the claims that Ratcliffe had travelled in response to fears that Moscow was planning to “test NATO resolve,” or to win Moscow’s cooperation for intensified sanctions on Iran.
“None of the above,” Trump said in response to Beck, who referred to the speculation as “crazy”.
“He’s there, you know, very sort of semi-routine. I hate to disappoint people. We would like to see the war with Ukraine end,” Trump said.
Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), confirmed on August 27 that he had held a meeting with Ratcliffe when the latter visited Moscow.
“The meeting did take place, and there is nothing unusual to it,” Naryshkin told reporters, according to TASS.
The Kremlin separately denied that Ratcliffe warned Russia against attacking NATO members and aiding Iran, claiming it is “fearmongering that has no connection to reality.”
Russia’s latest warning to the UK reflects growing tensions with the kingdom and European countries, which are actively working to further inflame the conflict in Ukraine. Meanwhile, despite all recent reports suggesting that the U.S. was intervening on the side of its NATO allies, official remarks from both Washington and Moscow indicate no escalation.
The reports on Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow may be meant to drag the Trump administration into the mess being created by Ukraine with help from the UK and European countries.
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