Russia threatens Britain with retaliation if involvement in Ukraine war deepens ( www.pbs.org )

Russia on Monday threatened to strike British military facilities and said it would hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons amid sharply rising tensions over comments by senior Western officials about possibly deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.

After summoning the British ambassador to the Foreign Ministry, Moscow warned that Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with U.K.-supplied weapons could bring retaliatory strikes against British military facilities and equipment on Ukrainian soil or elsewhere.

The remarks came on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration to a fifth term in office and in a week when Moscow on Thursday will celebrate Victory Day, its most important secular holiday, marking its defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

yournamehere ,

are you winning vlad? are you?

coz doesnt look like that if you need to threat the world with nuclear weapons.

Buddahriffic ,

He didn't threaten to use nukes. He threatened to run drills where his soldiers pretend to use nukes. Probably so that he can actually follow through on an ignored threat.

But that still doesn't change the fact that any actual nuke use would result in an escalation regretted by both sides, even if it doesn't result in an alpha strike.

avater ,
@avater@lemmy.world avatar

It seems the Brits are doing something right, keep it going. Would love to see our chancellor doing the same instead of repeating the russian propaganda...

thetreesaysbark ,

Probably just rishi trying to secure some right wing votes for the election later in the year.

avater ,
@avater@lemmy.world avatar

yes that could be true...but in the end I welcome all support for Ukraine.

gravitas_deficiency ,

It genuinely baffles me how the conservative parties of more than a few western countries went from the hawkish party during the Cold War to Russian apologists today. The mental gymnastics are truly astounding.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Russia funds them, and in at least some cases has kompromat. See: NRA, 2016 us national party hacks.

gravitas_deficiency ,

Oh, I’m aware. I’m mostly talking about how insane it is that the party base is enthusiastically eating this up.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

Well, the base is definitely suffering from a tragic lack of gravitas. It helps to be aware that you desire to mistake not your own worldview, for a universal one. "Common sense" is never truly common, but derived from the knowledge and beliefs of the individual.

gravitas_deficiency ,

I’m not though. If you’d have taken a poll of Republicans at literally any point before Trump launched his campaign, asking whether Russia was an ally or adversary, it would have yielded strong consensus on the latter.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

So I think it's less relevant to consider Russia qua Russia here, and think of it more as a negative applause light that has had its valence flipped through the exercise of the massive media machine that the right has built to prevent another Nixon from ever having to resign in disgrace again.

Churbleyimyam ,

What I like about this is that in order to appeal to right wing fascism the Tories must oppose the poster-boy for right wing fascism.

TropicalDingdong ,

the Brits are doing something right

bout fuckin time

nogooduser ,

I’d say that we’re frequently doing something right. Unfortunately, we’re also frequently doing other things wrong.

FlyingSquid Mod ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

On the one hand, National Health Service. On the other hand, ruthless colonialism...

nogooduser ,

The Conservatives are working to “fix” the NHS so that it goes in the other column.

caboose2006 ,

Is this a rerun? Sounds really familiar

Enkrod ,

What's Russia gonna do? Lose on two fronts instead of just the one?

trslim ,

This comment is perfect, thank you for making my day.

fadhl3y ,

There's nothing the UK likes more than messing with Russia... at least it will distract us from Brexit-style self-owns in the near future.

echodot ,

it would hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons

Oh no, not drills. If we're not careful they're going to pretend to use nukes, that's very scary.

KidnappedByKitties ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    echodot ,

    They did that because they needed a reason for their forces to be near the border (Of course it wouldn't fool a concussed chipmunk, but that's not relevant). This is why historically Russian military exercises often get up NATO's nose, because Russia does this a lot, it claims " training exercises" as an excuse for its forces to be in NATO waters.

    But simulating a nuclear strike doesn't require forces to be in NATO territory or anywhere near the UK.

    It's not the exercises itself that's the problem, it's the fact that Russia often uses them as justification for moving forces around.

    If Russia simulates a nuclear strike against London for example, how will anyone in London even notice. They're just going to say they did it. It won't actually involve doing anything.

    I'm going to nuke Moscow. Done.

    WEFshill202 ,

    He's talking about tactical nukes though, not strategic ones. The exercises he's talking about would be to practice using small scale nukes to secure battlefield "victories" (batshit insanity).

    echodot ,

    The only way to practice that would be to withdraw forces from Ukraine. How's that supposed to be a threat towards the UK.

    Although it is Russia so I suppose it's entirely possible they'll irradiate their own troops.

    Aurenkin ,

    You're already getting your ass kicked by Ukraine, you're not scaring anyone with threats anymore.

    EatATaco ,

    Ukraine is faring fat better than one would have expected, but they're not getting their asses kicked. The tide of the battle seems to be shifting in Russia's favor due to Ukraine being depleted of troops.

    psycho_driver ,

    Aren't they really just threatening to move them up in the queue?

    FlyingSquid Mod ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    There's something weird in Putin's hand... it's super blurry... I think he's shaking it really, really fast... hang on, I have a high-speed camera. Let's see what it is.

    https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ccd49a74-f11a-4cae-b137-101362f759ae.png

    Oh, well that makes sense. Pray, continue.

    pwalshj ,

    https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/a3d85958-fede-4c1a-8cb1-57adddfd647b.gif

    tal ,
    @tal@lemmy.today avatar

    Russia on Monday threatened to strike British military facilities

    I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if the Kremlin isn't happy with the current state of the war with Ukraine, that probably wouldn't produce a situation more to their liking.

    fuckingkangaroos ,

    "You better watch out!!! We're getting our military crushed, and if you join in we'll get our military even more crushed by you!"

    SlopppyEngineer ,

    These days Russia mainly strikes with misinformation campaigns and hacking attacks. Sometimes they even sabotage underseas infrastructure.

    itsnotits ,

    You'd* better watch out

    0110010001100010 ,
    @0110010001100010@lemmy.world avatar

    Why do the biggest assholes always have to rattle their sabers the most? Are they compensating for something?

    bluGill ,

    They hope to scare enough people to get a change. don't let it work.

    ButtKiss ,

    Because it worked to get them where they are... So they keep doing it. Ostensibly Germany's not sending Taurus precisely because of this.

    AlteredStateBlob ,
    @AlteredStateBlob@kbin.social avatar

    I have complained to the chancellor about that and will continue to do so. But they do provide Taurus to allies who in turn send their stock of older but similarly capable systems to Ukraine such as storm shadow.

    Still, it's silly and our weapons are only for defense against Russia anyway. We will only need Taurus ourselves if Ukraine loses. Might as well put them to use.

    TachyonTele ,

    Lol

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