Russia has threatened to strike British military facilities and announced plans to hold tactical nuclear weapons drills, escalating tensions with the West. The Russian defence ministry said the exercises are a response to “provocative statements” by UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and French President Emmanuel Macron over the war in Ukraine.
The drills, involving troops from Russia’s southern military district, the air force and navy, will practise the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. This comes after Cameron said Ukraine has the right to use British-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia, and Macron refused to rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine.
The UK ambassador to Russia, Nigel Casey, was summoned by the Kremlin on Monday and warned that British military facilities and equipment “on the territory of Ukraine and abroad” could be targeted in response to Ukrainian attacks using British weapons. The Russian foreign ministry said Casey was called upon to “reflect on the inevitable catastrophic consequences” of such hostile steps.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the drills were prompted by “highly dangerous rhetoric” from French, British and US officials. Ukrainian officials dismissed the announcements as “nuclear blackmail”, a constant practice of Putin’s regime. The exercises mark a rare move for Russia, which typically holds strategic nuclear drills rather than tactical ones.
