Residents of Helensburgh, Scotland, which sits close to a major military site, are reportedly concerned that the town could be at the top of Vladimir Putin's hitlist amid current tensions with Russia.
The town, home to around 15,000 people including military families and retired personnel, lies just five miles from HMNB Clyde, known as Faslane. The naval base hosts submarines carrying the Trident weapon system, the UK's nuclear deterrent.
Campaigners Warn of Target Risk
Campaigners have said that Faslane makes this part of Scotland a target for attacks, according to the iPaper.
This is not the first time UK locations have appeared to be targeted by Russia. Last year, Kremlin senator Dmitry Rogozin highlighted a list of 23 British sites on a map, singling out military bases in Barrow, Plymouth, and Glasgow, among others. The locations were pinpointed on a map extracted from the UK government's policy paper 'Defence Industrial Strategy 2025: Making Defence an Engine for Growth'.
Recent Threats and Warnings
Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova threatened strikes on British drone factories providing equipment to Ukraine.
President Putin was urged to target these British defence-linked locations after former British defence secretary Ben Wallace said: "We must help Ukraine acquire long-range capabilities to make Crimea uninhabitable. We need to strangle Crimea."
More recently, military expert Mikhail Khodaryonok added that Russia has the ability to launch an attack on Britain, warning of action "sooner or later".
He said: "As to the hypothetical strikes against the objects of the United Kingdom's military-industrial complex, Britain's leadership has to realise that sooner or later, they will have to answer for their actions. If not today the tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but in the historically observable future after all. We have all the technical means for a strike against the military-industrial complex of Great Britain."
The comments came during a Russian TV show, where a map was also shown, highlighting five areas across the UK, including London, Norfolk, Bristol, Bath, and Edinburgh.
