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Russia issues military ultimatum to UK

Moscow has threatened retaliation for any attacks with British weapons

UK Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey leaves the Russian Foreign Ministry, in Moscow, Russia. © Sputnik / Ilya Pitalev

Ambassador Nigel Casey was summoned to the ministry following remarks by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron to Reuters that Ukraine has the right to use long-range missiles sent by the UK to strike deep inside Russia.

”Casey was warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory could be any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the meeting.

The US and its allies had previously qualified their deliveries of long-range weapons to Kiev by saying they could only be used on territories that Ukraine claims as its own – Crimea, the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Cameron’s statements to the contrary “de facto recognized his country as a party to the conflict.”

Russia understands Cameron’s comments as “evidence of a serious escalation and confirmation of London’s increasing involvement in military operations on the side of Kiev,” the ministry added.

Casey was urged to “think about the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps from London and to immediately refute in the most decisive and unequivocal manner the bellicose provocative statements of the head of the Foreign Office.”

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an exercise to test the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. President Vladimir Putin ordered the drills after “provocative statements and threats” by Western officials, the military said.

Moscow hopes the drills will “cool down the ‘hot heads’ in Western capitals and help them understand the possible catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they generate,” as well as “keep them from both assisting the Kiev regime in its terrorist actions and being drawn into a direct armed confrontation with Russia,” the Foreign Ministry said in a follow-up statement.

French Ambassador Pierre Levy was also summoned to the Foreign Ministry. Moscow has not yet disclosed the details of the meeting.

6 May, 2024 13:35

Home Russia & FSU

Western ambassadors summoned in Moscow

The French and British envoys were called for meetings amid escalating tensions over the Ukraine conflict

FILE PHOTO: The building of Russian Foreign Ministry. © Sputnik / Vitaliy Belousov

The UK and French ambassadors in Moscow were summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday amid rising tensions over the Ukraine conflict.

The envoys were seen visiting the building housing the ministry in central Moscow separately, but neither the UK’s Nigel Casey nor France’s Pierre Levy offered any comments to the press outside. The Russian government did not immediately discuss the meetings either, only confirming that the ambassadors had been summoned.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an exercise to test deployment of non-strategic nuclear weapons. President Vladimir Putin ordered the exercise after “provocative statements and threats” by Western officials, the military said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has for months been advocating for what he calls “strategic ambiguity” regarding the Ukraine conflict. The idea is to keep the option of deploying NATO troops in Ukraine on the table to prevent a Russian victory. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested in an interview last week that the rhetoric stems from Macron’s wish to use “Russophobic” messages to boost the French position in the EU.

Western leaders are ‘infantile morons’ – Medvedev

Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told Reuters over the weekend that Kiev “has the right” to use missiles provided by his nation to attack targets deep inside Russia. The remark appears to be a policy shift compared to previous claims by Western officials that Kiev is given weapons on the condition that they only be used within what Ukraine claims as its sovereign territory.

Also on Monday, Berlin announced that it was recalling its ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Lambsdorff, for consultations. The envoy is expected to return to Russia in a week.

The German government attributed the move to claims that Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) was behind a cyber operation to snoop on senior members of the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other targets in the country. Moscow has described those allegations as baseless.

‘Russia’s Not Bluffing’: Tactical Nuke Drills are Deafening Warning to NATO to Stay Out of Ukraine

47 minutes ago

By Ilya Tsukanov

All materials Write to the author

Russia’s military has parried bellicose statements by officials and lawmakers in Washington, Paris and London about deploying troops in Ukraine by announcing drills involving battlefield nuclear weapons. Sputnik asked Earl Rasmussen, a 20-year veteran of the US Army-turned independent military and foreign affairs observer, what it all means.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has characterized Russia’s upcoming tactical nuclear missile drills as a bid by Moscow to “cool down the ‘hot heads’ in Western capitals” threatening to deploy ground troops in Ukraine, and take other aggressive steps which threaten to escalate the proxy war in Ukraine into a full-blown Russia-NATO conflagration.

The exercises “must be considered in the context of recent bellicose statements by Western officials and the sharply destabilizing actions taken by a number of NATO countries to pressure Russia with force, and to create additional threats to the security of our country in connection with the conflict in and around Ukraine,” the ministry said in a press statement on Monday.

This includes threats to provide new forms of “direct assistance” to Kiev, including the transfer of increasingly advanced weapons to the Zelensky regime, as well as the US decision to tear up arms control agreements with Russia in a bid to militarize both Europe and Asia, Moscow said.

The drills should “help [NATO] realize the possible catastrophic consequences of the strategic risks they generate, and keep them from both assisting the Kiev regime in its terrorist actions, and from being drawn into a direct armed confrontation with Russia,” the Ministry said.

Moscow also warned that it will treat any F-16 fighter jets that NATO plans to deliver to Ukraine as potential carriers of nuclear weapons, and that it considers the decision to supply them as “a deliberate provocation.” Combined with Poland’s talk of willingness to deploy US nuclear weapons on its soil, reports of French mercs already fighting in Ukraine, and other provocations, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that the Western bloc’s efforts signal a deliberate push “toward a further escalation of the Ukrainian crisis toward an open military clash between NATO and Russia as part of the implementation of the hostile course of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ on our country.”

Russia's General Staff Preparing for Drills to Practice Use of Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons (11 hours ago)

“The regime in Kiev and its Western abettors should finally realize that their reckless steps are bringing the situation ever closer to the accumulation of an explosive ‘critical mass’,” Moscow warned, urging the other side to rethink its positions.

Separately on Monday, the Ministry summoned British Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey to warn him over the implications of Foreign Minister David Cameron’s comments during his May 2 visit to Kiev about the admissibility of using British weaponry to carry out strikes on Russian territory, stressing that the comments signal London’s admission of its role as a direct party to the Ukrainian crisis, and that Moscow will treat it accordingly.

“The ambassador was told that the Russian side views D. Cameron’s words as evidence of a serious escalation, and confirmation of London’s growing involvement in military operations on the side of Kiev. N. Casey was warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons on Russian territory could include any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and beyond,” the ministry said.

Moscow separately summoned French Ambassador to Russia Pierre Levy “in connection with…bellicose statements by the French leadership,” and France’s growing involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

France's President Emmanuel Macron. File photo - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.05.2024

World

Macron Denies France Waging War Against Russia

1 hour ago

Reading Russia’s Signals

“This is a signal to the Western leaders that they are serious. They are not bluffing,” retired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen told Sputnik, commenting on the flurry of statements by the Russian military, the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry about Russia missile forces’ plans to hold tactical nuclear weapons drills in the Southern Military District amid NATO threats in Ukraine.

“If the Western leaders escalate this further with direct engagement, Russia will directly engage them: and they'll destroy their forces, and potentially to protect the Russian state will, may result in tactical nuclear weapons [being used]. This is not good: this would force an escalation and eventually lead to a total nuclear war,” Rasmussen warned.

“I don't believe that Russia wants to do this. I believe they're trying to send a signal to caution the Western leaders from escalating further,” the 20-year US Army veteran-turned international and military affairs commentator added.

Unfortunately, Rasmussen warned, the hostile statements coming out of Western capitals about “getting engaged” in Ukraine if the Ukrainian front collapses serve to increase the risks of a direct clash. “This is a very, very dangerous provocation, a very dangerous escalation. I would caution Western leaders not to do that,” he urged.

“Ukraine is not a NATO ally,” Rasmussen stressed, pointing out that Kiev at best is a kind of “pseudo” ally, having received years of funding and training from NATO countries, but having no obligation from the bloc to come to its aid, much less perish in a potential flashpoint with Russia.

“But this is, very, very, dangerous escalation from the verbal rhetoric and threats from the West. And Russia's acting accordingly, basically sending a clear signal that they will be prepared, they'll be trained, they will be ready, if necessary. They don't want to, but they will protect the Russian state,” Rasmussen summed up.

Iskander-M tactical missile complex is being deployed during a demo show as part of the Third International Military-Technical Forum Army 2017 held in the Moscow Region. - Sputnik International, 1920, 06.05.2024

Analysis

Signal to NATO Powers ‘Playing War in Ukraine’: Why Russia is Drilling Its Tactical Nuclear Forces

3 hours ago

Lili News 029

In cynicism and power, the US propaganda machine easily surpasses Orwells Ministry of Truth.
Now the fight against anti-semitism is being weaponised as a new sanctimonious McCarthyism.
Unless opposed, neither justice nor our Constitutional right to Free Speech will survive this assault.

Things to keep in mind...

Neo-Nazi ideology has become one of the main protagonists of political and social life in Ukraine since the 2014 coup d'état. Meanwhile, fascist ideology and blatant lies also permeate the consciousness of most people in the West. Those in the comfortable top 10%, the "PMCs" (Professional Managerial Class), are especially vulnerable. They support and disseminate such ideas. They are the executors of the actual ruling class' orders, those in the 0.001%, who remain largely invisible. The PMCs are the political class, the media whores, the top military brass, some people in academia, and the "national security/foreign policy" industry honchos. Push back against these unethical, contaminated people with the truth while you can.

AND...where the US Government is at: LYING 24/7