In a bizarre outburst on the Kremlin’s national television, Vladimir Putin’s propagandists stated that Britain is at war with Russia.
Moscow is currently spinning stories around the unfortunate death of volunteer fighter Jordan Gatley in eastern Ukraine.
This was confirmation, according to political analyst Vladimir Kornilov, that the Queen’s army is fighting Russian soldiers in the country.
‘I read his father’s Facebook post, which was naturally filled with anguish. ‘He lost his son,’ Kornilov explained to the audience.
‘However, he states there that he served in the British Army until March of this year, after which he chose – and this is crucial – to continue serving in other places.’
‘So he didn’t even consider it as leaving. As I understand it, he didn’t leave. So he must have been reassigned to some service.’
The former British soldier died in the battle for the city of Severodonetsk, which has seen intense fighting in recent weeks.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed over the weekend that it is “helping the family of a British man who died in Ukraine.”
His identity was later revealed in a Facebook post by his bereaved relatives.
Despite the fact that Gatley quit the army before traveling to fight as a volunteer, Russian TV host Vladimir Solovyov stated that this was a “de facto” confirmation of British forces’ involvement in the conflict.
‘Quite right,’ Kornilov replied. He is a mercenary under British law if he joined another foreign army and is fighting against a country that is not formally at war with Britain.
‘So it turns out that Britain is now glorifying these mercenaries as heroes and admitting the fact of war with the Russian Federation. There is no other explanation.’
Since Russia’s incursion in February, Western governments, notably the United Kingdom, have provided millions of pounds in military aid to Ukraine and sanctioned accused supporters of Putin’s administration.
However, no country has really sent soldiers to confront the Russians.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the leader of the Armed Forces, urged Brits against volunteering abroad earlier this year.
Other military sources warned that this could give Russia the “misleading impression” that Britain had deployed troops in.
Gatley’s killing happened after two British POWs were sentenced to death in a Donetsk court following a’show trial.’
Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured fighting for Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade in Mariupol, where they were both formally enlisted.
In the same program, Moscow-born political analyst Yakov Kedmi proposed that they be swapped for high-profile Western captives like as Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, and Russian weapons dealer Viktor Bout.