LONDON, May 12. /TASS/. The UK gave Kiev long-range Storm Shadow missiles for strike on Russian cities including in Crimea, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin has said.

He made the statement when addressing members of the Russian Club of Oxford, which was established in 1906, and the Russian embassy sent a statement about his remarks to TASS on Friday.

"He emphasized this means considerable escalation of the conflict and an expansion of the military operations area," the embassy said in the statement, referring to Kelin. "It has been noted that Western countries used to be cautious enough to avoid sending Kiev weapons like this."

"It’s obvious for us that London made this step to enable Kiev to strike Russian cities and villages, including the territory of Crimea," the statement went on to say. "We regret that the UK, which has nothing to do with this conflict, nevertheless plays a leading role in extending and escalating it."