By Oyintari Ben
In response to Moscow’s assertion that members of the British military took part in a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, Russia summoned the British ambassador on Thursday.
Shortly after 1030 local time (0730 GMT), Ambassador Deborah Bronnert arrived at the foreign ministry while a small group of protesters brandished signs that read, “Britain is a terrorist state” and screamed anti-British slurs.
Reports from the scene indicated that Bronnert spent about 30 minutes inside the ministry. Neither Russia nor Britain made an early comment on the specifics of what was discussed.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, stated on Wednesday that the ambassador was called in relation to the drone strike on Crimea on Saturday. Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
The claims, according to Britain, are untrue. Following the drone assault, Russia briefly halted its involvement in a Black Sea Grain agreement that was mediated by the U.N.
President Vladimir Putin accuses Britain of being a particularly treacherous Western force that is attempting to obliterate Russia and divide up its enormous natural riches.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and Britain levied some of the toughest sanctions in history and sent weaponry to Ukraine.
The Nord Stream gas pipelines were allegedly destroyed by British navy troops, according to the Russian defence ministry. London dismissed this assertion as baseless and an attempt to deflect attention from Russian military missteps in Ukraine.
