Russia could take “retaliatory” actions if the United Kingdom builds new military installations around the world, a top diplomat warned.
“The intention to build up military presence in third countries are of counter-productive, destabilizing and frequently provocative nature,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Friday.
Zakharova’s rebuke followed a forecast from British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson, who revealed that the United Kingdom intends to play a more prominent national security role following the exit from the European Union. He has a goal of “creating a deterrent but also taking a British presence,” as he told British media two weeks ago.
“This is our moment to be that true global player once more – and I think the armed forces play a really important role as part of that,” Williamson said. “We are looking at those opportunities not just in the Far East but also in the Caribbean as well.”
The expansion would reverse the 1968 decision to withdraw U.K. forces previously deployed “east of Suez,” which marked the effective end of the British Empire.
“The pronouncements by the U.K. defense secretary in favor of further militarizing the British policy cause at least bewilderment,” Zakharova replied. “Naturally, if any measures that create a threat to the security of Russia and its allies are implemented, our country reserves the right to adequate retaliatory actions.”
Williamson predicted a greater role for the United Kingdom to provide “moral leadership, the military leadership and the global leadership,” following the exit from the EU.
“This is our biggest moment as a nation since the end of the Second World War, when we can recast ourselves in a different way, we can actually play the role on the world stage that the world expects us to play,” he said.
