Russian Ambassador to London: UK wages unannounced hostilities against Russia

Russian Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin
Photo: TASS

Recent publications in Western media show that the UK is conducting unannounced hostilities against Russia, Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin told a TASS correspondent.

"We are seeing these new revelations about the extent of UK and American involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. Following the sensational article by ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Times’ has published its piece giving details about the British in Ukraine," the diplomat said. "This information did not come as a surprise to us. We have known about it for a long time and have spoken about it publicly. Only earlier such statements were presented here as Russian propaganda, and now British journalists themselves are writing about it," the ambassador pointed out.

"Why is London interested in such articles?" Kelin emphasized. "I think it is important for them to remind themselves and others of their role in unleashing the conflict and keeping it escalated. This is important against the backdrop of London's struggle for patronage over Ukraine in various Western formats such as Ramstein (contact group on arms supplies to Ukraine – TASS). There is also a desire to prevent a peaceful settlement. The abovementioned articles always advocate the most escalatory scenarios for the development of events," the Russian diplomat noted.

"It remains only regrettable that despite all the ‘frankness’ of the publications in The New York Times and The Times, there has not been an occasion for debates on this issue, for example in Parliament, where much smaller issues, including those of a political nature, are discussed. In other words, this is a tacit admission that the UK is conducting unannounced hostilities against us," Kelin said.

Commenting on the current course of the UN authorities, which advocate both resetting relations with the EU and deepening special ties with the US, the diplomat said: "Many local experts admit that London feels quite uncomfortable in the current situation of heightened uncertainty in global processes." "Moreover, we can't forget about the third power center in this equation. This is China. Against this political background, the UK is trying to position itself as a certain bridge between Europe and the US," the Russian ambassador pointed out.

"In my opinion, this can lead not to a balance, but to a rupture of relations with one of the sides. According to many objective conditions, the political choice will be Washington, while the trade and economic choice will be the European Union," Kelin said.

"But let's not guess. According to a recent opinion poll, two-thirds of respondents admitted that the country is 'broken' and moving in the wrong direction," the diplomat said. "For our part, we can say that London's self-made decision to refuse normal relations with our country has not brought the UK internal stability, social and economic prosperity, or authority in international affairs," the ambassador concluded.

The main goal of the "coalition of the willing" promoted by the UK and France is to lay the groundwork for foreign intervention in Ukraine to preserve the ruling regime, Andrey Kelin said.

"Our position is very clear. We perceive the ongoing negotiations initiated by London and Paris as, in essence, preparations for foreign intervention to preserve the ruling regime," he told TASS. "This has already happened in our history, during the Civil War. For Russia, all this is absolutely unacceptable. As for security guarantees, they are quite feasible without any foreign deployments."

Kelin also saw a desire to respond to the dialogue established between Moscow and Washington in the European initiative.

"In the stormy and pointless diplomatic fuss around the creation of the ‘coalition of the willing,’ we see an attempt to create a process parallel to the Russian-US negotiations. The reason is quite obvious – the fear of the European countries of remaining outside the framework of the negotiations. At the same time, the issue of how to preserve the Nazi and anti-Russian regime loyal to the West on the territory of Ukraine remaining under Kiev's rule is being resolved," the head of the diplomatic mission added.

"It's hard to judge the results. The military leaders who are currently touring the European capitals do not give details about the composition and prospects of the coalition. Instead of specifics, there are statements about the need to deploy certain ‘multinational forces’ in Ukraine that would guarantee the implementation of a potential peace deal. Although it is known from the leaks that only six countries are ready to send their contingents to the coalition, three of them are Baltic. It seems that the size of the contingents will be in line with this."

The Russian Ambassador pointed out the fallacy of this Western approach. "The political mistake here is obvious. There is no document on the cessation of hostilities, its basic principles have not yet been agreed, especially agreements on the security guarantees. The Westerners are trying to create a tool for fulfilling these agreements. Flexible, as they say, with various options. Some countries have already recognized that there is very little point in this frenzied activity," he said.

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