Britain ‘Playing With Fire’ by Aiding Ukraine, Faces ‘Unpredictable’ Consequences, Warns Russian Foreign Ministry

by Oliver JJ Lane

The Kremlin has once again issued dire threats against the United Kingdom and other European states as it insists Western nations that assist Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s invasion are party to the conflict and will face “unpredictable” consequences.

The recent surge in Russian attention on The United Kingdom’s part in aiding Ukraine, manifested in a series of threats ranging from dark allusions to nuclear war to warnings of hybrid warfare attacks on weapons factories on British soil, continues again with fresh comments from Moscow’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lead spokesman for the Foreign Minister, Maria Zakharova, made the latest threats at a press conference on Thursday, stating the responsibility for escalation rests squarely on the shoulders of Western politicians.

The announcement by newly installed British Prime Minister Andy Burnham that his government will be releasing intellectual property to Ukraine to allow them to build Anglo-French bunker-buster cruise missiles domestically on Monday appears to have given particular impetus to Russia to make these complaints, above and beyond years of London actually handing over weapons and equipment. Following earlier threats on this subject, spokesman Zakharova said the presence of the missile in Ukraine is “literally the quintessence of London’s involvement in the Ukrainian conflict”.

She accused London and Paris of trying to “dodge responsibility for strikes deep into our country’s territory” by handing the blueprints to the deep strike missiles to Ukraine, but insisted this won’t work, and the lead nations in the Coalition of the Willing of Western states backing Ukraine will “bear direct responsibility for participating in terrorist attacks.”