The relations between London and Moscow are enormously complex and not exactly friendly (poisonings, persecution of dissidents on British territory, expulsion of spies, disinformation campaigns and fake news , hacks, attempts to destabilize democracy and influence elections, sabotage, attacks on infrastructure, economic sanctions…). But politics is one thing and finance another, and none of that prevents the Russian state and allied oligarchs from using the City as a giant money laundering machine without opposition.
Vladimir Putin, through his embassy in the English capital, has now threatened the United Kingdom indicating that Ukraine’s use of drones manufactured by two British companies “constitutes a deliberate escalation that will have consequences, and the greater London’s involvement in the conflict, the higher the price to pay.” Very harsh language that translates into the first international crisis for Andy Burnham.
Russian reprisals could be sabotage of infrastructure and submarine cables and internet hacks
The British premier, caught between a rock and a hard place, has responded that his Government “is not a casual travel companion of Ukraine, but that its commitment to the Slavic country is one hundred percent to help it defend itself from Russian aggression,” and his policy has not changed in this regard compared to his predecessors (Johnson, Sunak and Starmer). The United Kingdom is the fourth largest donor of aid to Kyiv – both individually and collaborating with former EU partners – after the U.S., Germany and France, with a contribution to date of 28.5 billion euros.
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Although British drones are not long-range and can only penetrate about three hundred kilometers beyond the border, they are part of Ukraine’s strategy to harass Russia with hundreds of them, while the Flamingo missiles it has developed attack oil refineries and storage centers, and are capable of reaching Moscow. The damage caused to date is estimated at about forty billion euros, and London is preparing to provide Zelenski with an electronic system to neutralize enemy air defenses.
Meanwhile, Russia is engaged in hybrid warfare by sending its own drones towards Poland and the Baltic countries, or even the German airport of Leipzig-Halle, with a Ukrainian cargo plane as a target. British intelligence considers a war with Moscow likely within ten years, and estimates that the reprisals Putin refers to will be hacks, sabotage of vital submarine cables for communications, and disinformation campaigns.
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