Zakharova Responds to UK Defence Secretary: Britain Cut the Communication Channels Itself in 2024, Moscow Is Ready to Talk
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on November 11 responded to remarks by British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting about communication channels between London and Moscow. Speaking at a press briefing, she said Britain's stated wish for additional channels was surprising, because it was Britain that cut the channels in 2024, expelling the Russian embassy's military attache on what she called a false pretext.
Zakharova said she could confidently recommend that the British defence secretary contact Russia's Ministry of Defence directly, adding that officials there would answer the phone and talk, and that the Russian ministry would be ready for direct dialogue if London made the approach. In an interview published by the Financial Times on November 10, Streeting said the British embassy in Moscow was still functioning but that he would like more channels of communication with Russia, particularly between the two militaries, to reduce the risk of miscalculation.
Britain said at the time of the 2024 expulsion that the attache was an undeclared military intelligence officer, an allegation Russia rejects. Relations between the two countries are at a low point amid the war in Ukraine, with Britain among Kyiv's firmest supporters and maintaining a hard line on sanctions against Russia.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：俄罗斯外交部发言人扎哈罗娃（资料图）。照片：俄罗斯联邦委员会，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (file photo). Photo by the Federation Council of Russia, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
