Russian ambassador says UK doesn’t support potential strikes inside Russia
According to Andrey Kelin, London's stance on this issue depends entirely on Washington
LONDON, October 25. /TASS/. The UK has not changed its stance and still doesn’t support potential strikes inside Russia, Russian Ambassador to London Andrey Kelin said in an interview.
"As for London's position, it has not officially changed yet. It is communicated to us that it remains the same," the diplomat said. "Still, all this is shrouded in an information fog to introduce an element of uncertainty. But, as I said, there is confirmation that the position has not changed and London is not in favor of the possibility of strikes inside Russian territory at the moment." he said.
According to the diplomat, London's stance on this issue depends entirely on Washington.
"It must by all means be coordinated with the United States because launches of long-range Storm Shadow missiles depend directly on the of American intelligence. Everything else, apparently, is done by British specialists themselves: input of the flight path and all the procedures related to the launch, except, perhaps, for target identification, which can be done by the Ukrainians. So, as Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized, the British in that case would be complicit in these strikes," the ambassador said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters on September 12 that Ukraine is unable to deliver strikes inside Russian territory without Western assistance because it needs satellite intelligence and flight input data to do so. According to the president, the current debate among NATO countries is not just about Kiev's potential use of Western long-range weapons, but they are also essentially making a decision whether to get directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict.