Britain leads Europe to confront Russia

Over the weekend, the British Foreign Ministry made an unusual move by accusing the Kremlin of `plotting to install pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine`.

According to the British Foreign Ministry, Russia is considering former Ukrainian parliamentarian Yevhen Murayev, who opposes Ukraine’s integration with the West, as a potential candidate to head a pro-Russian leadership, but has not provided evidence.

According to WSJ commentator Max Colchester, Britain’s unusual enthusiasm was also shown when London became the first European power to join the US in its effort to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, amid tensions with Ukraine.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said they had provided `light weapons systems, specialized in anti-armor and defensive purposes` to help Ukraine defend itself in the event of a Russian attack.

Ukrainian soldiers unloaded a batch of anti-tank weapons supplied by Britain at Boryspil airport near Kiev on January 18, Photo: Reuters.

Jack Watling, a land warfare expert at the British Royal Institute for Defense and Security Studies, assessed that the shipment of about 2,000 anti-tank missiles that the UK transferred to Ukraine will cause significant additional difficulties for Russia if it

The confrontation between Moscow and London is not new, although it has received less attention since the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. Previously, Britain had a tougher approach to the Soviet Union than its peers.

The tense atmosphere seems to have heated up again in recent years.

He currently leads a multinational North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) combat group in Estonia to reinforce Europe’s eastern flank, and is the first European country to send engineers to support.

Thanks to possessing the leading military force in Western Europe, Britain is considered to have many options for action.

Prime Minister Johnson has publicly opposed the Nord Stream 2 project, a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that has just been built and has not yet come into operation.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (right) and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace visited a factory in Bristol in October 2021.

On January 24, Johnson sent a tough message to Russia, declaring that any attack on Ukraine in any form `will have costs and there will be casualties.`

After Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, Britain also helped Ukraine strengthen its military through a training program called Operation Orbital, which began in 2015 and has trained about 22,000 Ukrainian soldiers in skills.

Similar to many other European countries, Britain once showed restraint and did not provide lethal weapons to the Ukrainian army for fear of inflaming tensions with Russia.

Last year, the British Royal Navy deployed the destroyer HMS Defender to the Black Sea to demonstrate its commitment to stand by Ukraine, sparking criticism from the Russian government.

`These measures will make them stop and think about what they are doing,` said Minister Wallace.

`Behind the series of efforts to confront Russia, the British government shows a desire to actively protect governments friendly to them, and at the same time prove to the US that they are a reliable ally,` commentator