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November 27, 2024 - 11:40am
When journalists scan the next Register of Members’ Interests to discover which ministers have accepted “freebie” trips abroad, they are unlikely to see a sojourn to Siberia on the list. Yesterday, the Kremlin released a list of 16 British Cabinet ministers forbidden from entering Russia as “punishment” for their “reckless policies” and “anti-Russia activities”.
Given the unlikelihood of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner embarking upon a mini-break in Moscow, this measure is clearly yet another attempt by Russia to find the most visible methods of targeting Britain. Think back to last month’s chaotic scenes when a mob, apparently organised by the Russian security services, harassed senior British diplomats at a Moscow airport, or yesterday’s summoning of the British Ambassador over alleged spying by one of his diplomats, with the Kremlin even naming the suspect.
Lest these appear rarefied diplomatic disputes between the British Embassy in Moscow and its host nation, Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden this week warned of the threat the Kremlin poses to the UK as a whole through cyber attacks shutting down power grids, all in a bid to weaken British support for Ukraine.
So why is the UK such a target for Moscow? Some of the motivation behind the latest moves will undeniably be the necessity of presenting a robust public response to Ukraine’s use of Franco-British Storm Shadow missiles against military targets in Russia. Yet there are also longer-term reasons for Russian discontent. The UK has long served as an adopted homeland for those who have fallen out of favour with the Kremlin, including ex-spy Oleg Gordievsky, businessman Boris Berezovsky and oligarch-turned-oppositionist Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
That is before one turns to the UK’s leading role in aiding Ukraine, supplying Kyiv with NLAW anti-tank missiles and calling Moscow out for its invasion plot before the war began. As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remarked last year, the UK extended its “helping hand when the world had not yet come to understand how to react”. The UK provision of weaponry, training and intelligence to Ukraine is likely viewed bitterly in the Kremlin not just as interference in its backyard and an obstacle to victory, but also as bearing indirect responsibility for the tens of thousands of young Russian lives claimed in this war.
As for why Moscow adopts such overtly harsh methods, the answer perhaps lies in the UK’s immunity to softer means. While Russia can strive to weaken support for Ukraine in other European capitals by funding and promoting pro-Moscow parties, there are no mainstream British political parties in favour of Russia or which advocate cutting aid to Ukraine. The closest British political life has is Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s occasional interventions on the topic, and even those provoke considerable controversy. Given the public and political consensus around supporting Kyiv, Moscow’s only hope of reducing support can be broad, brute-force techniques aimed at making the British electorate question whether assisting Ukraine is worth the cost.
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SubscribeAs I understand it, not being conversant in the primary sources and not speaking Russian, Russia has historically seen the United States as the continuation of British Policy by other means and not the other way around.
Thus the Russo-British rivalry in the Near East occupies an exaggerated position in the history and philosophy of Russian diplomacy and statecraft. This has also the regrettable effect of flattering the vanity of those in the Foreign Office and Cabinet who wish to play the patron of liberalism in the East with an army less than a tenth of the size of Russias.
My understanding is that Russia still has a thing about Britain still being a global power.
It seems they think we are somehow sitting behind the scenes pulling all the strings.
If only it were true
The current Russian leadership also has a real dislike of Britain – for example every time I have heard Lavrov speak about Britain in the last few years, he literally radiates hatred. I would be wary of this Russian leadership if they are pushed into a corner, because while they won’t fire nukes at the US, I wouldn’t put it past them to target the UK with ICBMs. In this type of situation having someone as low quantity as Starmer and Lammy in charge and making decisions is bad news.
Surely you mean ‘low quality’? Although in Lammy’s case I grant you quantity may be the appropriate word,
What “humiliation” ?
Who cares about Putin’s tantrums. Just ignore them.
As for the nonsense about British colonialism. We were the country that peacefully dismantled our empire after WWII. Compare and contrast with Russia who are still desperately trying to cling on to theirs and refuse to face reality. if they have an inferiority complex when they look at the UK, it’s entirely deserved. And entirely of thier own making.
Yes, let’s put all our energy eggs in the one electricity grid basket and wait for a cyber attack from Russia – or China, or Iran – to immobilise it.
I’m not sure Ed Millipede will interpret your post as intended. I don’t think he understands irony; a bit like Putin!
I followed the article’s reference to the condemnation of Nigel Farage’s comments made on the BBC. Despite Nigel actually agreeing with his critics on the fundamental issue that Putin was wrong to invade the sovereign nation of Ukraine, his reminder of his statement 10 years ago, “We shouldn’t poke the bear” caused outrage. Are some so ‘pure’ that pragmatism can never have a say before backing theatening action against a nation we’re in no position to fight?
Not sure what the point of this article is. Stating the ‘bleeding obvious’?
The author overlooks the issue that probably rankles the most with the Russian leadership. Boris flying to Kiev in April 2022 to instruct Zelensky not to sign the peace deal that had been agreed in Turkey by both sides, and would have brought a ceasefire on considerably better terms than will be available to Ukraine today. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides in the intervening two and a half years which could have been avoided.
Good to be the right side of history and despite some pain resulting we are on this one.
Of course we have a weekly apologist for Putin article here on UnHerd with some utter tosh that we/NATO were to blame for his invasion and fact he’s a bullying Autocrat. You do wonder if his only means of weakening resolve is expelling some diplomats and stopping Ange boating down the Volga?
The UK is a historical enemy of Russia. So when they characteristically poodle to American neocons, they also add their own inflammatory spin, the British establishment. I think they see themselves as expert military advisors to such proxy wars.