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Russian Foreign Ministry protests to British envoy over training of Ukrainian saboteurs

In particular, the Russian Foreign Ministry specified that the UK had trained minesweeper crews for Ukraine and provided Kiev with a certain number of unmanned underwater vehicles

MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry made a strong protest to British Ambassador to Moscow Deborah Bronnert over British military specialists’ involvement in the training of Ukrainian forces for sabotage activities in the Black Sea, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"Following the Russian Defense Ministry’s report of the United Kingdom’s involvement in the October 29 terrorist attack on Black Sea Fleet ships in Sevastopol, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador to Moscow Deborah Bronnert on November 3. A strong protest was made to the ambassador over British military specialists’ active involvement in the training and equipping of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, particularly for acts of sabotage at sea. Specific facts related to London’s activities in that regard were presented," the statement reads.

In particular, the Russian Foreign Ministry specified that the UK had trained minesweeper crews for Ukraine and provided Kiev with a certain number of unmanned underwater vehicles.

The statement also mentioned a 2020 agreement between London and Kiev aimed at expanding British instructors' activities to train Ukrainian military divers. The work, which includes the training of underwater saboteurs for actions in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is underway at the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces’ base in the city of Ochakov, in the Nikolayev Region. At the same time, Ukraine’s naval forces supported by British specialists "conducted dive sessions and practiced blowing up a target" near Odessa, Nikolayev and Ochakov.

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