Kremlin’s Cold War claims rebuffed as allies of Boris Johnson blast Moscow outburst
Russian assertion that relations with the UK are at an all-time low sparks wave of ridicule ridden by hero PM Winston Churchill's grandson Sir Nicolas Soames
RUSSIA'S claim that relations with the UK are worse than during the Cold War sparked a wave of ridicule yesterday.
Allies of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson blasted the incendiary outburst from Moscow’s top diplomat in the UK.
And hero PM Winston Churchill's grandson Sir Nicolas Soames dismissed it as "rubbish" misinformation from a "wretched" Kremlin hand.
Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko warned that that Britain’s relationship with Russia is worse than ever before — despite spending 46 years in diplomatic deep freeze during the Cold War.
And Mr Yakovenko accused No10 of “raising tension in Europe” by sending 800 British troops to Estonia to guard against Russian aggression on NATO’s eastern flank.
He insisted: “Russia doesn’t pose any threat to Estonia nor any other Nato member-state.”
When asked if this was the worst point ever in the history of UK-Russia relations, he dramatically claimed “yes, it is.”
And Mikhail Gorbachev — the last leader of the Soviet Union — even warned that Russia and the West were heading towards ANOTHER icy standoff.
He said “all the indications of a Cold War are there” and criticised politicians and military leaders on both sides for becoming “more and more belligerent” in their language and accused the West of provoking President Putin.
But a friend of Boris Johnson hit back at Moscow saying: “Russia could end all of these issues now if it wanted. It’s not us on the wrong side of the argument.”
A Whitehall source added: “Russia has the chance to improve its relations with the international community by stopping its support for Assad the butcher, ending its illegal annexation of Crimea and respecting the sovereignty of Ukraine.”
And other top politicians also ridiculed Mr Yakovenko’s rock bottom claim.
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The Chairman of the powerful Commons Defence Committee said he had failed to take a “sufficiently long view of the history of our relationship”.
Julian Lewis hit out: “I can think of times when it’s been a lot worse — even in my own lifetime.”
He added that the “big difference from the old confrontations is that it used to be much worse because of the atrocious Soviet, Communist and Marxist ideology — which at least isn’t a factor these days”.
And he predicted the Ambassador would regret the outburst, adding: “I think probably on reflection he may feel that his remarks were overstated in an admittedly unsatisfactory situation.”
Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind piled in to say “if the Russians don’t like it they must change their behaviour”.
And he said Mr Yakovenko was plain wrong to single out the UK for its deployment of troops in Estonia: “That’s Nato policy - that’s not just the UK - that’s America, Germany, Britain and a number of other countries and that is a direct consequences of his own Government’s attempts to destabalise the Baltic states in recent years.”
Sir Nicholas Soames said Mr Yakovenko claim that relations are at an all-time low was the latest “misinformation” from Moscow.
The Tory grandee branded it “clearly rubbish”, adding: “The wretched Ambassador probably wasn’t even born during the Cold War — it was much worse when I was soldiering in the 1970s.
“I think it is hyperbole and I think everyone just need to be very aware of what the Russians are trying to do which is upset the apple cart.”
And he called for “clear minds and a cool head and just recognise that we seek better relations with Russia, but they have to understand how the rules work and they don’t have a clear run”.