Russia threatens UK with 'inevitable consequences' | Michael Clarke analysis

will undoubtedly be taking note of because Moscow has accused the UK and Russia.So not just Russian positions in occupied Ukraine, but now more serious.And that's what's prompted this very strong statement from the Russian embassy in London.Let me read it out to you in full.Last night, they said, reports that the Kiev confirmed that London is deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis.UK is acting as an accomplice.

and co -perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist acts committed by Ukrainian neo -Nazis seeking to contain Russia and inflict maximum damage on it by proxy.And then finally, it says London's... the deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kiev's terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.Now the UK hasn't confirmed and is committed to providing the equipment the country needs to defend itself, so certainly not backing down.I think the reason the UK isn't backing down here is because, as I say, they know Moscow has made these kind of threats before and they probably feel it's kind of the same thing.You might remember when there was that big discussion about whether or not the UK should use should allow Ukraine to use storm shadow missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia.That was preceded by a great deal of threats and warnings coming from Moscow.

Ultimately, the UK did do it.There were more threats and warnings.But eventually, it came to nothing.And I think Britain is calculating it'll be the same again now, feeling that this is a message more probably aimed at Russia.the Russian public.They know the Kremlin like to cast the West, particularly Britain, as the warmongers here to make Russians believe the war is a worthy cause.

And that is something Vladimir Putin really needs to do right now as the tensions between the UK and Russia at a time when they're already very high indeed.

Are beginning to have a real effect.I mean, they've taken down all of the biggest Wildberries warehouses.Wildberries is the company, the online retailer.They've done at least $3 billion worth of damage to all the stock that Wildberries hold.Wildberries is the most indebted company inside Russia, and they think that they might create a banking crisis if they bring down Wildberries.It is hurting the Russians and the Russian public.

Wildberries, everybody notices, just as they notice petrol shortages because petrol is running short because the refineries have been hit so effectively.So the Ukrainians have actually ramped up this war.And this year, they've gone for it.Now, I think they must have taken a strategic decision to say, we're going to really bring this war home to the Russians.And there will be a price to pay, and they'll pay it this winter, where the Russians will go all out to attack civilian targets, to stop electricity, energy generation, to interfere with water supplies, food supplies.The Ukrainian public will pay the price for this during the winter.

But in order, maybe, to get some political progress in changing Moscow's view.But of course, in doing that, they also implicate all of the allies that are helping them.

And is very true, evidently true, painfully true for Ukrainians.It will also, by the sounds of what Moscow is alluding to, potentially get more fragile.at best, if not more dangerous, at worst, for the UK.Because it's involved in all of this.It will.Take us inside number 10.

What is the balance of decision -making here?Because it wants to support Ukraine.It also wants to keep the UK safe.It also wants to support the defence industry.It also wants to test and learn.through this war.

Where are the decision makers going to be bouncing between when they take into account what Moscow is saying at the moment?

Really good thought.For one thing, okay, so consistency.Boris Johnson started it off.He was the murrup when the invasion took place in 2022.He was the head of the United States in some respect, Joe Biden at the time.And that consistency has been a mark of British policy.

Sowe're very consistent.Yes, we accept that Ukraine's war is our war as well.That's what the Ukrainians have always said.And we in Britain have always accepted that, that we're facing a Russia now which, if it is not somehow contained by the Ukraine war, will keep on coming.different ways, not to invade us but to blackmail us and have power over Western Europe, throw the Americans out of Europe, which is what the Russians have always wanted to do since 1949.

So Britain does not take the rhetoric too seriously, but then against intelligence assessments which says how likely are we to have some of our ships intercepted by the Russians as retaliation for us doing something about the Shadow Fleet, how likely are we to run up against a military view, is that we're heading towards a militarised confrontation, not necessarily war, well not war, but where that confrontation goes will be a big issue, and we're running towards that pretty quickly, this year, next year, whenever.We are on course for some sort of confrontation.

To what degree will decision makers think, well look, we came out, the West came out on top, off the back of the Cold War, We can go out the United States.

The West Europeans are 10 times richer than the Russians, between 10 and 12 there.We've got twice the number of ships, of combat ships.We've got twice.They are mobilised and we are not.They have a single government which is highly dictatorial.We have 27 governments in the EU and 30 governments in European NATO, excluding Canada, the United States and the 32 of NATO.

all of which make their own decisions.So they're mobilised and we're not.They are prepared for conflict and we are not, and we're trying to pretend it isn't going to happen.Maybe it won't.Maybe I'm being alarmist.But I ask myself, Gareth, every week, am I taking this too seriously?

Am I being too alarmist?And every week I come to the same conclusion.No, things are really getting objectively worse or more tense as we go towards the next two or three years.