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News > United Kingdom

The UK and the US Ramp up Tensions with Russia over Ukraine

  • A British Royal Navy ship, HMS Echo, is docked in Odessa

    A British Royal Navy ship, HMS Echo, is docked in Odessa | Photo: Reuters file

Published 23 December 2018
Opinion

The US and the UK are looking to increase funding for navy and to send navy ships to the Ukraine, respectively, as a means to boost the country's capacity to fight Russia. 

On Saturday, the United Kingdom‘s defense ministry deployed a navy warship to Ukraine in order to “send a message” to Russia, while the United States state department is busy trying to channel millions of dollars to Kiev in order to boost their navy’s ability to confront Russia actions which raise the already existing tensions among the Eastern European countries.

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The U.K.’s Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson believes sending a navy warship to the Black Sea is a way to support Ukraine against Russia, according to the BBC. This is one of many ships which will be sent to the area to establish a British presence there, stated the defense secretary.

William has put forth a defense paper titled “Mobilizing, Modernizing and Transforming Defense.” In this paper, Russia is attributed to committing acts such as cyber attacks, assassination, disinformation, as well as aiming to “blunt” the strategic advantage of the Western armies.

For the Russia Today media agency, these allegations amount to a portrayal typical of a “common Hollywood action flick where Russia is the main villain,” reminiscent of Cold War propaganda.

The United States government is engaged in its own form of conflict escalation. The state department recently issued a statement saying it will seek Congressional approval to “provide an additional US$10 million in Foreign Military Financing to further build Ukraine’s naval capabilities.”

For its part, the Russian government sent over a dozen SU-27 and SU-30 fighter jets to Crimea.

Tensions have recently been on the rise in the Black Sea because of an incident between Ukrainian warships and Russian patrols at the Kirch strait, in which the Russian navy shot at the vessels to induce them to stop what they alleged where dangerous maneuvers aimed to cause a provocation.  

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