Russia threatens UK military and orders nuclear
drills after ‘provocation’
Vladimir Putin responds to recent statements from
David Cameron and Emmanuel Macron over Ukraine war
Andrew Roth
Mon 6 May
2024 16.59 BST
Russia has
threatened to strike British military facilities and ordered its military to
hold battlefield nuclear weapons drills in a move the Kremlin described as a
response to comments from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on western
troops fighting in Ukraine and from the British foreign secretary, David
Cameron, on using British-supplied weapons against Russia.
The Russian
defence ministry said in a statement that troops from the southern military
district would “practise the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic
nuclear weapons … in response to provocative statements and threats by certain
western officials against the Russian Federation.”
The
announcement came days after Macron said he would “not rule out” the
possibility of sending troops to Ukraine and Cameron said it was up to Kyiv how
it used British weapons, including against targets inside of Russia.
The UK
ambassador, Nigel Casey, and his French counterpart in Moscow were summoned by
the Kremlin on Monday.
The Russian
foreign ministry issued a formal protest to Casey over Cameron’s recent
statements that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons to strike inside
Russia.
It said
that the remarks made the UK a de facto party to the conflict. The statement
came after a Ukrainian strike on Iskander short-range ballistic missile systems
stationed in the annexed Crimean peninsula.
“Casey was
warned that in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with British
weapons, any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of
Ukraine and abroad” could be targeted, the Russian foreign ministry said in a
statement.
“The
ambassador was called upon to reflect on the inevitable catastrophic
consequences of such hostile steps by London and immediately refute the
belligerent provocative statements of the head of the Foreign Office in the
most decisive and unambiguous way.”
Russia’s
southern military district borders Ukraine, from where the full-scale invasion
of Ukraine, which has killed tens of thousands of troops and civilians, was
launched two years ago.
The defence
ministry said that the exercises were meant to “unconditionally ensure the
territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state”.
The drills
would also include troops from the Russian air force and navy, the ministry
said.
The Russian
president has periodically warned that the country is ready to fight a nuclear
war and regularly orders strategic nuclear drills, which typically employ
intercontinental ballistic missiles. It is less common for Russia to hold
tactical nuclear drills, which use weapons that have a lower yield and are
meant to be used on the battlefield.
The Russian
foreign ministry on Monday also said that Russia would develop new intermediate
and short-range missiles, claiming that the decision was spurred by reports
that the US was moving similar missile systems to Europe and the Asia-Pacific
region.
A Ukrainian
government official dismissed the statements from the Kremlin, calling them
“nuclear blackmail”.
“We do not
see here anything new, except for the information effect and statements …
Nuclear blackmail is a constant practice of Putin’s regime,” Andriy Yusov, a
spokesperson for Ukrainian intelligence, told national TV.
The nuclear
drills will take place amid an escalation in diplomatic tensions between Russia
and European countries. Germany recalled its ambassador to Russia on Monday
days after accusing Moscow of launching a 2023 cyberattack on Germany’s ruling
Social Democratic party.
“A short
time ago you and I witnessed another unprecedented stage in the escalation of
tensions initiated by the French president and the British foreign secretary,”
said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. “That was highly dangerous
rhetoric.”
Peskov said
that the drills were prompted by statements by Macron, as well as British and
US officials, who have spoken about the potential for troops to be sent to
Ukraine.
“They’ve
spoken about a readiness and even an intention to send armed contingents to
Ukraine; that is, to actually put Nato soldiers in front of Russian troops,”
Peskov said.
In March,
Putin told reporters that Russia believed there were already a limited number
of Nato soldiers in Ukraine and warned that a direct conflict between Russia
and the alliance would be “one step away from a full-scale third world war. I
think hardly anyone is interested in this.”
Russia is
currently pressing an offensive in eastern Ukraine, where it is gathering
thousands of troops to launch an assault on the strategic town of Chasiv Yar in
the Donetsk region. On Sunday, it claimed to have captured the frontline
village of Ocheretyne, and on Monday claimed it had taken two more villages,
Kotlyarivka and Soloviove.
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