‘New round of escalation’: Putin’s Russia threatens UK, plans tactical nuclear exercises

Russia threatened to attack British military facilities and said it would hold exercises simulating the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield amid rising tensions over comments by senior Western officials about possible deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine.

After summoning the British ambassador to the Foreign Office, Moscow warned: “The response to a Ukrainian attack on Russia using British weapons would be against any British military installations or equipment in Ukraine and beyond.”

The comments came on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fifth term and in a week when Moscow will celebrate Victory Day on Thursday, its most important secular holiday, marking the defeat of Germany. Nazi in World War II.

The exercises are a response to “provocative statements and threats by certain Western officials regarding the Russian Federation,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.