By Tony O’Reilly-
Russia’s ambassador to the UK has refused to provide evidence to support its claims that Britain played a role in an attack on its warships – warning the country is “too deep” in the Ukraine war.
Russian officials have claimed a Royal Navy unit directed operations from the southern Ukrainian port of Ochakiv. The UK has dismissed this as “false claims of an epic scale”.
The Kremlin has also accused the Royal Navy of “directing and coordinating” attacks on the Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines in September. Britain has said Moscow is making the accusations to detract from its failing military campaign in Ukraine.
Top diplomat Andrei Kelin told Sky News claimed he had proof that UK special forces were involved in a Ukrainian drone assault on Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea and had handed ‘evidence’ to the British ambassador.
However, he declined to provide evidence of Russia’s claims, Mr Kelin said: “We perfectly know about [the] participation of British specialists in [the] training, preparation and execution of violence against the Russian infrastructure and the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. We know that it has been done.”
Mr Kelin said evidence had been handed to the British ambassador and added that “it will become public pretty soon,” perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow.
He added: “It is dangerous because it escalates the situation. It can bring us up to the line of I would say no return, return is always possible. But anyway, we should avoid escalation.
“And this is a warning actually that Britain is too deep in this conflict. It means the situation is becoming more and more dangerous.”
Last week the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said Russia knew “about an incident with a so-called ‘dirty bomb’ being prepared”, and that Russia knew “where, generally, it was being prepared”.
He gave no evidence of the alleged plot, which he said included the possibility of a device being loaded on to a Tochka-U or other tactical missile, detonated and then “blamed on Russia”. Kyiv has strongly denied the accusations.
The UK government has said such claims are false and are designed to distract from Russia’s military failures in Ukraine.
A spokesperson said: “In recent days, Russia has made a range of allegations against the UK, clearly designed to distract attention from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine; Russia’s losses on the battlefield and its bombing of civilian populations and energy infrastructure without any regard for international law and the loss of innocent life.
“We do not plan to give a running commentary on these allegations; it is no secret that the United Kingdom has taken a public lead in our support to Ukraine – this has been enduring since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.”
Moscow has cast Britain as a particularly insidious Western foil to Russia. President Vladimir Putin has said the UK is plotting to destroy Russia and carve up its vast natural resources.
Speaking after Russia accused the West of “encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction”, Mr Kelin denied Moscow would use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Mr Kelin said: “The nuclear war cannot be won and it should never be fought. And we stick strongly to this statement.”
The prospect of a nuclear war between Russia and the West has become more frightening ever since the Ukraine war, with t=Russia stepping up the rhetoric of a war in recent months.