Russia has threatened to attack factories manufacturing drones in UK for export to Ukraine in a ‘semi-military’ response to the military relationship between the two countries.
This comes after Britain agreed to share long-range missile blueprints with Kyiv.
On Monday, Moscow accused the UK of ‘participating in this war’ after Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived in Kyiv for his first foreign visit.
Mr Burnham had announced that European defence firm MBDA had been given permission to share information on UK components for the long-range Scalp missile, meaning Ukraine could start manufacturing the projectiles locally.
The move sparked a furious reaction from the Kremlin, with a senior Putin adviser now warning of a more aggressive response and claiming Russia views the UK as ‘evil number one.’
Tuesday on BBC Newsnight, an adviser to the Kremlin and a former deputy foreign minister Andrei Fedorov said Russia’s response to Mr Burnham’s announcement had been ‘very negative’, with Putin warning a ‘Pandora’s box’ was being opened.
Asked about the threat, Mr Fedorov said: ‘There’s a very serious political and public pressure on President Putin today, to undertake certain measures against UK, because he is considering UK as part of the war in Ukraine, and assistance from the UK is considered as a direct involvement of UK in this war.
‘The official warned a new stage of escalation would see a ‘not only verbal but maybe some visible reaction’ from Russia towards the UK.
