Russia threatens Britain with retaliation if involvement in Ukraine war deepens

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

After summoning the British ambassador to the Foreign Ministry, Moscow warned that Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with U.K.-supplied weapons could bring retaliatory strikes against British military facilities and equipment on Ukrainian soil or elsewhere.

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

bitwaba,

said it would hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons

That explains why they had everyone dig into the radioactive soil around Chernobyl and get radiation poisoning. Gotta simulate that nuclear fallout environment “for practice”

SkaveRat,

Build up immunity

jabjoe,
@jabjoe@feddit.uk avatar

They believed their own misinformation that it was all western lies. Bet that misinformation is still being pushed.

Lladra,

Russia sure talks a lot. They’ve already lost credibility as a major power. All they have left is “blow everything up”, including themselves.

KillingTimeItself,

they wont. They’re too cowardly.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

I hope they’re more cowardly than they are stupid.

KillingTimeItself,

they’ve already exhausted the stupid. There is only cowardly left. Russia bombing the UK, and inadvertently, technically the EU would almost certainly result in US retaliation, let alone the nuclear submarines that britain has. And probably the rest of the EU.

ShittyBeatlesFCPres, (edited )

We’re gonna need a community called “RussiaThreatens” like “ChinaWarns” where it just collects these stories. Yeah, we know.

Gradually_Adjusting,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

Authoritarian Copium

Brunbrun6766,
@Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world avatar

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China's_final_warning?wprov…

Burn_The_Right,

To add some icing, the phrase was originally Russian and was a household joke in Russia for decades. Russians (and Vlad Puta) know very well how unserious and comical numerous “final warnings” are.

homesweethomeMrL,

Are you threatening me?!

Hmhm heh hm. Yeah. Hmhehe. Hm.

MonkderDritte, (edited )

We call this behavior “Säbelrasseln” in german.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

The term exists in English, too, with the exact same meaning - “saber rattling”.

tal,
@tal@lemmy.today avatar

Hmm. I wonder where it came from. Might have been German.

goes to check etymonline

Gives the date of first-known use, but not where. I assume that that means that this was in English, since normally they list the origin language.

www.etymonline.com/search?q=saber+rattling

saber (n.)

type of heavy, single-edged sword, usually slightly curved, 1670s, from French sabre “heavy, curved sword” (17c.), alteration of sable (1630s), from German Sabel, Säbel, which probably is ultimately from Hungarian szablya “saber,” literally “tool to cut with,” from szabni “to cut.” The Balto-Slavic words (Russian sablya, Polish szabla “sword, saber,” Lithuanian šoblė) perhaps also are via German, but Italian sciabla seems to be directly from Hungarian. Saber-rattling “militarism” is attested from 1922. Saber-toothed cat (originally tiger) is attested from 1849, so named for the long upper canine teeth.

EDIT: Oooh, etymonline is wrong (or at least not complete). Mirriam-Webster has earlier known uses, says that it was used in the UK first, around the late 1870s.

merriam-webster.com/…/saber-rattling-word-history

There is no unanimity of opinion on why we came to refer to this kind of behavior as saber-rattling. Some think that it comes from the practice of 18th-century Hungarian cavalry units had of brandishing their sabers at opponents prior to charging. Others have said that it comes from the habit that military officers had in the early 20th century of ominously shaking their scabbard when issuing orders to subordinates. Our records indicate that the two words began seeing use in fixed fashion around 1880, making it unlikely that it was directly related to either of the causes given above.

Of late it has been in some quarters impossible to mention the word patriotism without having the taunt of being a sabre-rattling BOBADIL thrown in one’s face.

— The Standard (London, Eng.), 19 Feb. 1879

The “Sabre Rattling” of M. Coumoundouros, especially his assertion that by the coming spring he will have 86,000 men in the field, and that this number of troops will have been got together by the 10th of December.

— The Leeds Mercury (Leeds, Eng.), 3 Nov. 1880

The word appears to have begun in the press in the United Kingdom first, and by the early 20th century had spread to newspapers in the United States.

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

I wondered who was first, too, and looked it up before. The date seems to be in dispute, but English is apparently the original language to coin the term.

reverendsteveii,

in this case, more like nudelwackeln

NotMyOldRedditName,

If Russia attacks the UK can Ukraine attack China and Iran?

Probably a bad idea but that’s what they’re saying isn’t it?

Edit: and given russias use of China and Iran weaponry, if it happens to be from them, the UK can attack them too now!

alekwithak,

If Russia attacks the UK they’ve attacked NATO and all bets are off…

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Edit: and given russias use of China and Iran weaponry

The US and Russia have historically been the world’s two largest arms dealers. You can begrudge China and Iran for getting a slice of the action, but I have to imagine pulling them directly into the conflict would not improve matters for any Ukrainian.

NotMyOldRedditName,

It wouldn’t, but Russia is basically saying that’s a perfectly valid reason to do it.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

There’s one big difference.

China’s doing the proper capitalist thing and selling weapons onto the market.

The UK is doing the unforgivable socialist thing and just giving them away.

NotMyOldRedditName,

Ah gotcha. Definitely times to pull out the nukes for that unforgivable act then.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Or just bust up the payroll system for UK ground troops, as happened a few days ago

zephyreks,

What Chinese missiles, bombs, and guns have the Russians used that the Ukrainians haven’t? Please cite a source.

A DJI drone available on Amazon/Alibaba is not a “weapon.” A Shahed is.

NotMyOldRedditName,

US assessment is that China is providing the majority of what Russia needs to make those weapons, which is critical to russias ability to maintain their offensive.

theguardian.com/…/china-supporting-russia-in-mass…

They’re using loopholes to bypass sanctions by posing as civilian gear.

Ukraine is also finding critical Chinese parts on captured gear that used to be from other countries honoring those sanctions.

“Our view is that one of the most gamechanging moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base,” the official said.

zephyreks,

UK eyes Chinese drone parts for Ukraine

American drones are glitching and getting lost in Ukraine, giving way to a flood of Chinese drones

Ukraine continues to snap up Chinese DJI drones for its defense

And the Russian assessment would be that China is providing much of what’s keeping Ukraine’s defense alive.

ChicoSuave,

Russia has lost half a dozen ships to a nation with no navy. And they want to throw down with one as experienced as the UK? “Attacking the home of Storm Shadow missiles is a good thing” is the thought of an idiot.

echodot,

The Russian navy does not seem to have a defense against explody things in the water. It seems like an oversight, but I’m not a military strategist.

captainlezbian,

They’re still following their WWII and czarist military doctrine of “we have more people and resources than you”. It’s a shame that Russian military leadership will forever be associated with this instead of having a second chance to demonstrate the actual might and strategy of Trotsky’s red army.

It sometimes seems like being in power in Russia destroys your ability to have sensible military strategy

Snowpix,
@Snowpix@lemmy.ca avatar

You don’t rise in the ranks of the Russian military by being competent, you rise by kissing enough asses and having the right connections.

squid_slime,

RIP Trosky. fuck Stalin the absolute cowered

IchNichtenLichten,
@IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world avatar

They could deploy their only aircraft carrier, that’ll show ‘em.

Oh, wait, never mind.

“The ship has been out of service and in repairs since 2018. The repair process has been hampered by accidents, embezzlement of funds, and other setbacks. After the floating drydock PD-50 sank in Kola Bay (Murmansk) in an accident that killed one worker in October 2018, the ship was towed to Sevmorput Yard No 35. In another mishap in December 2019, a major fire killed at least one worker and injured ten others. In June 2022, the ship was transferred to a drydock at the 35th Ship Repair Plant in Murmansk, where it remained until February 2023. The current projection is that repairs will be completed and the ship will be transferred back to the Russian Navy sometime in 2024, however this may be pushed back to 2025 if issues arise during overhaul and testing”

en.wikipedia.org/…/Russian_aircraft_carrier_Admir…

ASeriesOfPoorChoices,

now, to be very upfront about this: I do NOT want to fuck around and find out, but…

it wouldn’t surprise me if Russia’s entire nuclear arsenal is in a similar state of repair.

vaultdweller013,

Even if the warheads are working I would question everything else.

ASeriesOfPoorChoices,

siphon out the jetfuel for their heaters.

IchNichtenLichten,
@IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world avatar

Stripping the copper out and selling it for vodka money?

samus12345,
@samus12345@lemmy.world avatar

They have a lot of them, odds are at least some of them still work.

CanadaPlus, (edited )

“China’s final warning”

I’d take it more seriously if the West actually became involved, but regardless of Frenchmen “shooting their mouth off” nobody’s sending troops to fight a nuclear power.

Gradually_Adjusting,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

Maybe double check to see if they actually still are one. All these decades of sabre rattling and corruption in the defense industry, wouldn’t it just take the cake if hardly any of their nuclear capabilities still worked?

echodot,

Yeah but how do you check?

Gradually_Adjusting,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

Same way they’re planning to test article 5 ig 🤷

reev,

Prod them with a stick?

CanadaPlus, (edited )

A 99% failure rate would still leave them capable of MAD. That they don’t have that capability is a dangerous pipe dream, which I see nowhere except Lemmy and Reddit comment sections.

Wanderer,

British special forces are suspected to have been in Ukraine from day one.

They probably haven’t shot anyone but they are far more useful doing other things.

CanadaPlus,

I was wondering if that would get brought up. It’s sure ballsy on the UK’s part. The deniability is the thing that makes it different, though. Russia doesn’t have to respond to a few spies the same way as they would to an open confrontation. The reports also suggest it’s very small numbers of people.

AngryCommieKender,

Russia stop! Poland can only get so erect!

slurpinderpin,

Send more Stormshadows!

For real though, attack the UK and you’re gonna have the USAF and RAF flying sorties over Moscow within a week

rimu,
@rimu@piefed.social avatar

Russia on Monday threatened to strike British military facilities

This is equivalent to USA threatening to strike North Korean, Iranian or Chinese facilities (all of whom have been arming Russia). No such threats have been made.

Just so we're clear who's escalating things.

c10l,

It’s not equivalent. Russia is at war with Ukraine. The USA and the UK are, in theory, not a part of this war - at least not directly.

It’s the equivalent of Ukraine threatening the countries arming Russia, if those countries decided to get more directly involved in the war.

psycho_driver,

The USA gets up to a fuck ton of assbaggery around the world, but our involvement with what’s going on in the Ukraine isn’t among them.

captainlezbian,

Yeah if we’d done this in Vietnam it wouldn’t be great because Ho Chi Minh was the elected leader of Vietnam, but the Vietnam war wouldn’t’ve been the absolute shit show it was. Frankly most of our wars should’ve been this

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

The US is fighting dirty in every country but Ukraine?

DragonTypeWyvern,

If you’re not fighting dirty you’re not fighting to win.

This just happens to be one of those times were we get to (help) fight fascists instead of people that want food and human rights

Honytawk,

Can’t fight dirty in them if you are not there.

UnderpantsWeevil,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

We’re there

Shampiss,

It’s just a media game

Every time Russia says “there will be consequences” they’re just throwing threats around like a dog barking from the other side of a fence

All their cards are on the table. The only things they could pull off are drafting more people or going nuclear

They’re now scrambling to find soldiers from other nations because announcing another draft would obviously shake Putin’s control over Russia

I just wish Europe would stop playing this war like a political game. SEIZE RUSSIAN MONEY! What are you afraid of? Ruining relations with Russia? Fuck off! Ukraine won’t have people to fight forever

Churbleyimyam,

SIEZE RUSSIAN MONEY!

This is exactly what they should do. But they won’t, because most of it is held in the City of London’s offshore boltholes. Seizing anything from them would scare the shit out of every big-time capitalist and corrupt politician on the planet. Would be good for us though.

cygon,

So true. By this point, Russia is already using everything it can, short of an actual, hot war with the west. And their military is stretched to the limit already without that.

I think this sabre rattling is still useful to them as a one-two-tactic:

  1. Public threat from Russia, mentioning but not directly threatening nukes (the “push” side)
  2. Russia-aligned media in the west publish articles saying “Putin’s threat should be taken seriously,” Russia-aligned western politicians smearing their opponents as “irresponsible war mongers”, followed by pushing for existing sanctions to be lifted, etc. (the “pull” side via stooges/crooked politicians)
rayyy,

Times are tough for Russia. Putin has put a lot of his resources into cheaper alternatives like threats and cyber warfare. He is hoping, and aiding with psyops, his ally stooges, the House Putin faction and Donald Von Shitzinpantz to steal the presidency soon.

JohnDClay,

Like they’ve been threatening for the last two years? They’re out of escalation options that are useful for them.

Honytawk,

No no no!

. * holding back tears *

This time we will launch a nuke for real!

fox2263,

Come on then if you think you’re hard enough

dizzy,
@dizzy@lemmy.ml avatar

We are millwall! Super millwall! We are millwall, from the den!

gravitas_deficiency,

Lmao fucking try it, Putin. Make our day.

EatATaco,

Holy shit what the fuck is wrong with you basically begging for a war between two major powers? We all hate Putin, but fuck that would not be good for anyone.

FluffyPotato,

The UK hasn’t been a major power in like at least 2 decades. If you mean NATO then Russia isn’t really a major power in comparison to NATO. Not that it’s important, Russia isn’t stupid enough to pick a fight with NATO.

gravitas_deficiency,

Because it’s a fucking bluff dude.

skulblaka,
@skulblaka@startrek.website avatar

It would be really bad for a small group of people and would save the lives of hundreds of thousands of others. Say Putin does strike Britain. A bunch of people die in the initial strike. Then Britain, America, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, France, Canada, and probably a handful of others all collectively turn the Kremlin into glass and dust in a retaliatory strike. China and North Korea both rattle their sabers about it but neither of them wants to throw down with the Allies 2.0 because it doesn’t matter who you are, going to outright war with a world cooperative force is a capital-letters Bad Idea.

Otherwise Putin continues to slowly grind his way across Eurasia for the next decade while every other country’s politicians hem and haw about who they want to help and how much. Meanwhile thousands of people die daily as the Russian meat wave slides its way down toward the central EU.

There’s a very good reason that Putin has been performing military ops in Ukraine and only vaguely threatening everyone else that got involved. He knows that if he manages to actually draw the ire of the full Allied military might the remaining lifespan of his army and capitol will be measured in minutes.

If this were just a straight up shooting war it would have been done and dusted two years ago. Instead it’s a political war, and that’s stopping a bunch of politicians from actually making a move on it. Nobody wants to be the guy that started World War 3, and Putin is leveraging that to enormous effect.

Sam_Bass,

Kinda doubt hes in much condition to mouth off too much

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