British officials are now ‘legitimate military targets’ for Moscow following Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s support for Ukrainian attacks within Russia, the Kremlin has warned.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev warned any British public officials who are deemed to be ‘facilitating’ Ukraine in its defence against Russia would be a target.
His extraordinary threat came after Cleverly said Ukraine has the right to ‘project force’ beyond its own borders for self-defence following reports of a suspected Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow.
Medvedev, a close Putin ally and his deputy on the country’s security council, tweeted: ‘Today, the UK acts as Ukraine’s ally providing it with military aid in the form of equipment and specialists, i.e., de facto is leading an undeclared war against Russia.
‘That being the case, any of its public officials (either military, or civil, who facilitate the war) can be considered as a legitimate military target.’
James Cleverly holds a SA80 Service Rifle as he meets military officers on the HMS Albion in Estonia on Tuesday
Footage purportedly shows a suspected Ukrainian drone explode with a mushroom cloud (pictured) near Usovo village, which is close to Vladimir Putin’s official residence, on Tuesday
A ranting Medvedev continued: ‘The UK’s Foreign Secretary Cleverly has stated that Ukraine ‘has the legitimate right to… project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself’.
‘According to him, legitimate military targets beyond Ukraine’s border are part of its self-defence.’
Medvedev – seen by some as angling for a return as Russian president if Putin is forced out by war failings or ill-health – said: ‘The goofy officials of the UK, our eternal enemy, should remember that within the framework of the universally accepted international law which regulates modern warfare, including the Hague and Geneva Conventions with their additional protocols, their state can also be qualified as being at war.’
Cleverly, speaking on a visit to Estonia, a NATO country bordering Russia where UK troops are based, said Kyiv had ‘the legitimate right to defend itself’ when asked about Tuesday’s drone attack on Moscow.
He said: ‘I don’t have details, and I am not going to speculate about the nature of the drone attacks in Moscow. So what I’m about to say are more general points, rather than on that specific incident.
‘Ukraine does have the legitimate right to defend itself. It has the legitimate right to do so within its own borders, of course, but it does also have the right to project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.
‘So legitimate military targets beyond its own border are part of Ukraine’s self-defence. And we should recognise that.
‘That is not to say that I have any particular assessment over the attacks in Moscow, but more broadly military targets beyond its own border are internationally recognised as being legitimate as part of a nation’s self-defence.’
Several buildings in the wealthy suburbs of Moscow were damaged by suspected Ukrainian kamikaze drones yesterday, just hours after Putin unleashed another volley of strikes on Kyiv.
A specialist inspects the damaged facade of a multi-storey apartment building after a reported drone attack in Moscow on Tuesday
The Russian defence ministry said eight drones sent to Moscow by Ukraine were shot down or diverted with electronic jammers, though Baza, a Telegram channel with links to the security services, said there were more than 25.
A deluded Putin and his cronies accused Ukraine of trying to ‘frighten’ Russians with their ‘increasingly reckless behaviour’ after the drone attack.
Apparently forgetting that Russia has unleashed a series of deadly airstrikes on Ukrainian cities that have killed thousands since the start of the war 15 months ago, Putin claimed Kyiv had chosen the ‘path of trying to frighten the citizens of Russia’.
Putin claimed the drone attack was in revenge for earlier Russian strikes on ‘command centres’. In reality the Kremlin air strikes have hit residential buildings in Kyiv, causing residents to run for their lives to bomb shelters.
The White House said it was gathering information on the reports of drone strikes in Moscow.
‘We do not support attacks inside of Russia. That’s it. Period,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing.