Diplomatic relations between London and Moscow took a serious hit this week, once morest the backdrop of the crisis at the Ukrainian borders. The United Kingdom on Friday asked British nationals to leave Ukraine “immediately” following a tense meeting between British Defense Minister Ben Wallace and his Russian counterpart.
“The safety and security of UK nationals is our top priority, which is why we have updated our travel advice,” a Foreign Office spokesperson said. “We urge British nationals in Ukraine to leave immediately by commercial means as long as they remain available. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said this Friday, during a virtual meeting with his allies on the situation in Ukraine, “we fear for the security of Europe”.
These statements follow two Russian-British meetings this week that ended in a failed de-escalation. “Alas the level of our collaboration is almost zero and will soon pass the zero bar and become negative, which would be undesirable”, warned Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, following his meeting this Friday with his British counterpart. .
He also called on Westerners to stop “feeding” Ukraine with weapons, of which London is one of the suppliers. “We would also like to offer to contribute to the reduction of tensions and an end to the arming of Ukraine, which is taking place on all sides, in a public way,” he said. Sergei Shoigu also assured that London had sent “special forces” to Ukraine, comments denied by Ben Wallace during a press conference from the British Embassy in Moscow.
The latter said that London had sent a “small team” of instructors to Ukraine to train Kiev in the use of recently delivered British “defensive” anti-tank weapons. “When the training is over, these troops will go home,” he promised. Ben Wallace was more positive than his counterpart, believing that the exchange with him had been “constructive” and that relations between London and Moscow were “above zero”.
“Conversation between deaf and mute”
The first head of British diplomacy to visit Russia in four years, the head of British diplomacy Liz Truss on Thursday called on Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops massed near the Ukrainian borders, as proof of his goodwill. His Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov described their exchanges as a “conversation between a deaf and a dumb”, accusing him of not having heard Russian concerns regarding NATO enlargement.
While the West accuses Russia of wanting to invade Ukraine, the United Kingdom is one of the most intransigent NATO members once morest Moscow. A line that can be explained by the heavy liabilities between the two countries. Their already strained relations reached a new low point following the poisoning, in 2018 on British soil, of a former Russian spy and his daughter, attributed by London to Moscow. The United Kingdom also announced on Wednesday that it was ready to deploy 1,000 additional soldiers in the event of a “humanitarian crisis” linked to tensions in Ukraine.
