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Vladimir Putin should cut Britain’s undersea power and internet cables the moment Ukraine fires its first UK-supplied Storm Shadow long-range missile, a Kremlin State TV pundit has said.
Moscow vowed ‘an adequate response’ from its military after the cruise missiles – each costing £2.2million with a range of more than 150 miles – were gifted to Kyiv.
Military pundit Vladislav Shurygin told Channel One’s political chat show Vremya Pokazhet the Kremlin must make a direct threat to London over any use of the rockets in the war in Ukraine.
He said: ‘We need to make a government statement from our leadership that as soon as the first Storm Shadow missile is used on Russian territory, including Crimea, we will nullify all UK infrastructure – all cables, all internet cables.’
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: ‘The donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia’s continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law.
‘Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself against this.’
Although capable of striking behind the Russian front line, Britain is understood to have received assurances the missiles will only be used against targets within occupied Ukrainian territory.
Vladislav Shurygin demanded Britain’s undersea power and internet cables are cut the moment Ukraine deploys a UK-supplied Storm Shadow missile (Picture: Social media/east2west news)
The UK donated Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Kyiv (Picture: Gary Dawson/Shutterstock)
Shurygin, a former Soviet and Russian army officer turned prominent military pundit, said any use of Storm Shadows in annexed Crimea would be seen as an attack on Russian territory.
Russia has reportedly mapped Britain’s undersea power and data cables with a view to staging possible sabotage attacks.
Former Navy chief Lord West of Spithead warned last month the vast web of cables, interconnectors and pipelines are under a ‘very real and present threat’.
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He told the House of Lords: ‘The actions and statements of President Putin would seem to indicate that he actually already considers that he is at war with this country and the West, if you just look at the raft of things he has done.
‘There is no doubt that the Soviet Union, when it existed, was very interested in what was going on under the sea – and Russia today is probably even more interested in what is going on under the sea.
‘If we stopped those cables working, £7.4 trillion worth of financial activity each day would be cut, 25% of our electricity would go and so on and so on.’
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Vladislav Shurygin said the Kremlin must make a direct threat to London over any use of the rockets.
