Vladimir Putin Declares British Government Officials 'Legitimate Military Targets'
May 31 2023, Published 3:55 p.m. ET
Vladimir Putin recently declared that British government officials will be viewed as “legitimate military targets” amid Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The sudden development was announced this week by former Russian president-turned-Putin crony Dmitry Medvedev.
According to Medvedev, Putin’s decision came after British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced that the UK would back Ukraine’s right to organize attacks against targets inside Russia.
"Today, the UK acts as Ukraine’s ally providing it with military aid in the form of equipment and specialists, i.e., de facto is leading an undeclared war against Russia," Medvedev proclaimed, according to Daily Star.
“That being the case, any of its public officials (either military, or civil, or who facilitate the war) can be considered as a legitimate military target,” he continued.
Medvedev then called out British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly directly and cited Cleverly’s recent remarks as the reasoning for Russia’s newest response.
"The UK’s Foreign Secretary Cleverly has stated that Ukraine ‘has the legitimate right to project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself,’” the former Russian president fumed. “According to him, legitimate military targets beyond Ukraine’s border are part of its self-defense.”
“The goofy officials of the UK, our eternal enemy, should remember that within the framework of the universally accepted international law which regulates modern warfare, including the Hague and Geneva Conventions with their additional protocols, their state can also be qualified as being at war,” Medvedev concluded.
Medvedev was responding to a series of comments Cleverly made this month during a visit to Estonia – a NATO country that borders Russia and where UK troops are currently placed.
“It has the legitimate right to do so within its own borders,” Cleverly said during the visit, “but it does also have the right to project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia's ability to project force into Ukraine itself."
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Putin’s decision to declare British government officials “legitimate military targets” comes as the 70-year-old Russian leader continues to escalate his war against Ukraine more than 15 months after it first started in February 2022.
Over the weekend, while Kyiv was preparing to celebrate its 1,541st anniversary, Putin ordered a devastating kamikaze drone attack against the Ukrainian capital.
Ukraine responded with a drone blitz of its own against Moscow shortly thereafter, and the Kremlin is reportedly worried that additional targets within Russia will be attacked in the coming days and weeks.
