Russia Warns UK Against Escalating Tensions With Threats Of Direct Armed Conflict

The Russian embassy in London warned of a risk of tensions escalating in Europe after the head of the British defense select committee said the UK should "face Russia directly" over Ukraine

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th January, 2023) The Russian embassy in London warned of a risk of tensions escalating in Europe after the head of the British defense select committee said the UK should "face Russia directly" over Ukraine.

"This and similar remarks, including arguments that Tobias Ellwood, the head of the Commons' defense committee, made today in favor of facing Russia directly are only escalating the already acute military and political tensions on the European continent," its statement read.

The diplomatic mission added that such rhetoric would only draw the UK deeper into the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia.

It also slammed ex-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for distorting what President Vladimir Putin told him in a confidential conversation they had shortly before Russia began the military operation in Ukraine last February.

Johnson told British media that Putin threatened him with a missile strike, which "would only take a minute." Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Johnson either misunderstood or outright lied about what Putin said, which, in Peskov's words, was that allowing Ukraine to join NATO would put NATO or US missiles near the Russian border and within a minute's reach of Moscow.