Russia warned Britain today that if Ukraine uses British weapons to strike Russian territory, Moscow could to retaliate against British military facilities and military equipment both in Ukraine and beyond its borders, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
British Ambassador Nigel Casey was summoned to the Foreign Office in Moscow to be handed an official protest note after UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said last week that Ukraine had the right to use British weapons to strike at Russia.
Russia's foreign ministry said Cameron's words were an admission that Britain was now de facto part of the conflict and contradicted earlier assurances that long-range weapons provided to Ukraine would not be used against Russia.
"Casey was warned that in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with British weapons, all British military sites and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and abroad" could become a target, the ministry said.
The ministry said it considered Cameron's statement a serious escalation.
"The ambassador was urged to think about the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps by London and to immediately refute the belligerent provocative statements of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the most decisive and unequivocal way,'' the Russian reaction said.
During his visit to Kiev last week, Cameron told Reuters that Ukraine had the right to use UK-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian soil and that it was up to Kiev to do so.
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Reuters said it had not yet been able to reach British officials for comment.