The Kremlin is planning to summon the British ambassador "in the near future" in order to present evidence that also threatens to collapse a Ukrainian grain export deal that was brokered by the United Nations.
President Vladimir Putin's government claims to have "firm evidence" that the British military assisted with a large-scale drone strike against the Russian navy's Black Sea Fleet last week off the coast of Crimea.
"The U.K. ambassador will be summoned and will be given the appropriate materials," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding the meeting would take place "in the near future."
"The basic materials will be handed over as evidence to the British side and will also be shown to the general public," she added.
Britain's ambassador to Russia is Deborah Bronnert, The Moscow Times reported.
Zakharova also said that Russia would be publishing the "materials" after its meeting with the ambassador.
Over the weekend, the Russian military said Ukrainian forces had launched drones against its fleet "under the leadership of British specialists in the city of Ochakiv" in southern Ukraine.
The Kremlin added that "according to our information," the same British unit had "taken part in the planning" of September explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea. However, the U.K. countered that these are "false claims on an epic scale."
Earlier, reports claimed that former British Prime Minister Liz Truss is at the center of a growing controversy regarding the act of sabotage against Russia’s Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines.
Early last month, the world held its breath as news spread that the Russian-owned infrastructure had been attacked, with many in the West convinced that President Vladimir Putin would retaliate in some manner. Reports at the time suggested that the United States was responsible.
But according to various reports, the British government had at least some role in the incident.
Kim Dotcom, a self-proclaimed “Internet Freedom Fighter,” tweeted that then British PM Truss sent this message to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken — “It’s done” — right after the sabotage took place, which is why the Russian government has accused London of being responsible.
“Liz Truss used her iPhone to send a message to Secretary Blinken saying ‘it’s done’ a minute after the pipeline blew up and before anybody else knew,” he told his nearly one million Twitter followers.
Dotcom, who was born Kim Schmitz in West Germany — when the country was divided — suggested he obtained the information through an iCloud hack.
“It’s not just the Five Eyes that have backdoor admin access to all Big Tech databases,” he said. “Russia and China have sophisticated cyber units too. The funny thing is Govt officials with top security clearance still prefer using iPhones over their NSA & GCHQ issued encrypted s**t-phones.”
How do the Russians know that the UK blew up the North Stream pipelines in partnership with the US?
Because @trussliz used her iPhone to send a message to @SecBlinken saying “It’s done” a minute after the pipeline blew up and before anybody else knew?
iCloud admin access rocks!
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) October 30, 2022
It’s not just the Five Eyes that have backdoor admin access to all Big Tech databases. Russia and China have sophisticated cyber units too. The funny thing is Govt officials with top security clearance still prefer using iPhones over their NSA & GCHQ issued encrypted shit-phones.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) October 30, 2022
Fox News' top-rated host, Tucker Carlson, also appears to believe that the U.S. was involved and that such an act would have been lunacy for two reasons -- environmental damage and potentially triggering a nuclear war.
Sources include: