Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for his decision to put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Truss made “unacceptable” remarks about potential “clashes” between Moscow and the NATO alliance over Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
On Sunday, Truss said that if Russia was not stopped in its attack on Ukraine, other states may be threatened as well, and this could lead to a conflict between Russia and Nato. In an interview with Sky News, Truss said that this long-running conflict is about freedom and democracy across Europe.
Peskov, in a press briefing on Monday, said that the statements made by representatives at different government levels about potential altercations or fighting and clashes between Russia and Nato were “absolutely unacceptable.” Peskov said he would not name the authors of the statements by name, but that it was specifically the British foreign minister, therefore clearly identifying who the Kremlin meant.
Putin criticized ‘aggressive statements,’ saying that Western countries take unfriendly measures against Russia in economic ways, calling them “illegitimate sanctions,” but that NATO leaders also make aggressive statements to Russia. Therefore, he said, he ordered his country to put deterrent forces on special combat duty.
A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the comments from the Kremlin were unhelpful and that they should work to de-escalate the situation.
The UK foreign secretary also made some shocking comments in a different interview with BBC’s Sunday Morning program, saying that she supported people from the UK wanting to choose to go to Ukraine to fight against Russia.
She used the same lines of that the people in Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy, not just for Ukraine but “for the whole of Europe.” She then said that it was up to people to make their own decisions.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has spoken about her comments since then, saying that people who do not have military training should not be traveling to Ukraine to fight, adding that it was dangerous and that there are other ways for British people to help Ukraine.
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