November 3 (Portal) – Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it had presented a protest to the British ambassador after subpoenaing her over claims that British specialists were involved in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
“The demarche stressed that such confrontational actions by the British threatened to escalate the situation and could lead to unpredictable and dangerous consequences,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ambassador Deborah Bronnert arrived at the Foreign Office just after 10.30am when a small crowd chanted anti-British slogans and held up placards reading ‘Britain is a terrorist state’. She left after about 30 minutes.
There was no immediate comment from Britain.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had said the ambassador should be summoned over Saturday’s drone attack on Crimea, which Russia unilaterally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The statement said Britain has been training Ukrainian military personnel for some time. This included training divers in “deep sea sabotage skills”.
[1/4] Britain’s Ambassador to Russia Deborah Bronnert arrives at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters as activists 3 , 2022. Portal/Shamil Schumatov
“There is information that the British Navy has also transferred a certain number of unmanned underwater vehicles to the Ukrainian side,” she added.
Britain denies carrying out the attack but does not hide the fact that it helped train and arm Ukrainian forces.
After the drone strike, Russia temporarily suspended participation in a UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal.
Russia has identified Britain as a particularly perfidious Western power that President Vladimir Putin has said is planning to destroy Russia and dismember its vast natural resources.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, Britain, along with the United States and the European Union, imposed some of the toughest sanctions in history and supplied arms to help Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said that British naval personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September, a claim London has called false and used to distract attention from Russian military failures in Ukraine.
Portal reporting; writing by Kevin Liffey; Edited by Guy Faulconbridge
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