Trump Blamed Moscow’s Growing Aggression Towards The UK

Donald Trump’s attitude towards the Nato and the Ukraine war has emboldened Russia with its growing threats towards the UK, according to a former Russian minister.

It comes after it emerged Ukraine is using British drones to hit targets within Russia, triggering a fresh warning from Russian delegates last night.

The Russian Embassy in London posted on X: “Seeking to contain Russia by proxy, the UK is acting as an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis.

“London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer.”

Andrei Federov, former deputy foreign minister of Russia, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that this was not necessarily an empty threat.

He said: “Nothing can be excluded from my personal point of view because there is confrontation which is now growing.

“Escalation in war in Ukraine will increase quite soon again, we have many problems linked to the situation in the Baltic Sea and the situation with a possible seizure of tankers carrying Russian oil, maybe even close to UK shores.”

He added: “There are a lot of people in the military community who are saying Russia can strike the UK and Nato will do nothing. Trump will not allow Nato to answer.”

Asked if he believed Nato would not intervene if the UK was attacked by Russia, Federov said: “Taking into consideration the current instability in Nato, problems within Nato, it’s quite possible that Nato will do nothing. Make a statement or use article 4, but not article 5.”

Article 4 allows any member state to formally request an emergency consultation if their territory is threatened.

Article 5 is the mutual defence clause whereby an attack on one member state is seen as an attack on all.

Federov said this speculation can all be linked back to Trump, who is “still the keeper of the keys to Nato”.

He acknowledged that the UK is a nuclear power and could retaliate itself, but noted that British government knows such a reaction would be a sensitive issue.

Vladimir Putin has consistently avoided being drawn into a war against Nato throughout his four year conflict with Ukraine.

But Federov warned that Ukraine’s increase in strikes within Russia and the use of drones produced in the UK have “raised concerns in the Kremlin” about the impact on the economy.

He said: “It’s very easy sometimes in Moscow to interpret such kind of strikes that the UK is part of the war, and that Russia has the full right to strike the country which is supporting Ukraine.”

“The situation now is very dangerous, because the tension of conflict in Ukraine really is increasing,” the former minister warned. “The coming couple of months will face this tension, this escalation which can bring us to totally different situation unlike ever before.”

Minister Lilian Greenwood later told Times Radio that the UK “won’t be bullied” by these threats from Russia.

She said: “Well, our message back to the Russians is that we stand with Ukraine. We’ve stood with Ukraine throughout this time when the Russian illegal invasion. We will continue to do so. We won’t be bullied in this way.”

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.