Russia summons its ambassador in response to ‘offensive’ UK comments on nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, Russia claimed it summoned the British ambassador to express strong opposition to “offensive” British statements, including alleged Russian threats to deploy nuclear weapons.

 

The Russian Foreign Ministry chastised Ambassador Deborah Bronnert for her ‘really obnoxious words about Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people.’

 

According to the report, Bronnert was sent a note stating that ‘Offensive rhetoric from UK government representatives is unacceptable. It is common in polite society to apologise for such utterances.’

 

According to the ministry, Russia has told her that it objects to British statements that contain ‘deliberately incorrect material, particularly about claimed Russian threats to deploy nuclear weapons.’

 

In a radio interview this week, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russian President Vladimir Putin had “little man syndrome,” and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was ‘like a comedy turn – she does her statement every week threatening to nuke everyone.’

 

Russia’s intervention in Ukraine has strained relations with most Western countries, but it frequently targets Britain, which has positioned itself as a key supporter of Kyiv in terms of both rhetoric and arms deliveries.

 

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Kremlin condemned ‘completely reprehensible’ remarks by British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss regarding the potential of conflict between Russia and NATO.

 

In response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comments that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a ‘perfect example of toxic masculinity’ and would not have happened if Putin were a woman, Putin cited Margaret Thatcher’s 1982 dispatch of the British navy to reclaim the Falkland Islands from Argentina.

 

Later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called some of Johnson’s remarks ‘monstrous.’