"Reinforcing the image of the enemy": why the UK declared the risk of an "accidental" war between the West and Russia

The British chief of defense, General Nick Carter, said that there is now a great risk of an unintentional armed conflict with Russia.

According to him, Moscow is allegedly ready to use any means to weaken Western Europe and the United States.

Among them, he named the cessation of gas supplies to the EU and mass migration, which is now, for example, observed on the border of Belarus and Poland.

“We live in a much more competitive world than even ten or 15 years ago.

And I think that the nature of this competition between states and major powers is leading to increased tensions, ”the general said in an interview with The Times.

In this regard, he noted, the risk of an "accidental" war with Russia in the race for regional influence is much higher than it ever was during the Cold War.

At the same time, Carter stressed that today there are no diplomatic tools that were used at that time to relieve tension.

“Without them, the risk (of a conflict. -

) is higher.

This is a real threat we are facing, ”the general added.

In this regard, he issued a warning that the aggressive nature of "some aspects of British politics" could lead to a situation in which "escalation is fraught with miscalculation."

In his opinion, this state of affairs is due to the destruction of the bipolar world.

“Now we live in a time when the world is rather multipolar,” stated Carter.

• British Chief of Defense General Nick Carter

• © AP Photo / Yui Mok

Fake accusations

As noted by The Times, the statements of the British general appeared against the backdrop of growing tensions in the West in connection with reports of an alleged Russian buildup of military forces on the border with Ukraine and its "preparation for an attack."

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation expressed confidence that these are not single publications, but a whole information campaign against Moscow.

In early November, the official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, drew attention to the fact that the American publications Politico, The Washington Post and Foreign Policy almost simultaneously, "as if on command" published materials about the "pulling together of Russian troops" to the Ukrainian border.

“This was not one fake, it was a whole fresh fake campaign in the American media,” she said.

According to the diplomat, the images of "tanks on the Ukrainian border" actually turned out to be satellite photographs of the territory near the city of Yelnya, located hundreds of kilometers from Ukraine.

However, after these publications, the United States and a number of EU countries still issued statements of concern about such messages.

Although in Ukraine they noted that they did not have data on the accumulation of Russian troops near its borders.

In particular, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Shaptala spoke about this on the air of the talk show "Freedom of speech by Savik Shuster".

According to him, the country's intelligence checked the reports spread by the media, but did not reveal any "suspicious" movements of the Russian troops.

These data were later confirmed by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov, noting that there was no concentration of the Russian Armed Forces on the border.

At the same time, even in the United States itself, the maneuvers of the Russian military are not considered aggressive.

“We are closely monitoring what is happening.

This is very similar to the situation in April this year.

So far, these maneuvers are not obviously aggressive.

There is nothing to indicate that they intend to invade anywhere today or tomorrow, ”Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milli, said on November 12 at an online event hosted by Duke University.

Escalating tensions

Experts note that the responsibility for the tense situation in the world in general and in the European region in particular lies with the Western countries. So, precisely because of their desire to escalate relations, and not to establish a dialogue, Russia decided to suspend the work of its permanent mission to NATO. She was forced to do this by the order of the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg to revoke the accreditation of eight employees of the permanent mission and reduce the number of the diplomatic mission to ten people. At the same time, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized, no relevant explanations were provided.

“All this confirms that NATO is not interested in any equal dialogue.

If so, then we do not see much need to continue to pretend that some change is possible in the foreseeable future.

NATO has already in fact declared the impossibility of such changes, ”said the head of Russian diplomacy on October 18.

It is also worth recalling that the United States and its allies have recently been stepping up their military activity in the Black Sea.

Recently, the missile destroyer USS Porter and the USS Mount Whitney command ship of the US Navy conducted exercises in the water area together with ships from Turkey, Ukraine and Romania.

In addition, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation records reconnaissance flights of NATO aircraft in the central and northwestern parts of the Black Sea.

As Vladimir Putin noted, such maneuvers in the region pose a challenge for Russia.

At the same time, he said that he had refused the proposal of the Ministry of Defense to conduct similar unplanned exercises in the water area, since he did not see "the need to escalate the situation."

In addition, experts draw attention to the fact that European countries are feeding Ukraine's militaristic sentiments.

In particular, the Ukrainian edition of Zerkalo Nedeli reported that the Ambassador of the Republic to Great Britain Vadim Prystaiko signed a framework agreement on the allocation of funds for the construction of eight missile boats, the purchase of two minesweepers from London and the creation of two naval bases in Ukraine.

According to the newspaper, London provided Kiev with a targeted loan in the amount of £ 1.7 billion (more than 163 billion rubles) for a period of ten years.

Earlier, plans for the joint construction of warships and the purchase of minesweepers were reported in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in connection with the signing of a memorandum of partnership in the field of military shipbuilding by the two countries.

"Phantom threat"

From the point of view of political scientists, the West purposefully increases the degree of tension in relations with Russia in order to be able to explain its aggressive actions against it.

As political analyst Alexander Asafov explained in a conversation with RT, the United States and its allies are closely watching Moscow's every move, waiting for it to make any mistake.

“After all, reasons are needed to explain the aggressive actions against the Russian Federation.

Therefore, the easiest way is to ascribe to Russia non-existent aspirations to seize something, manipulate something and put pressure on someone.

For this, the Skripals case was once inflated, but now the phantom of the notorious Russian threat is being swayed again, ”Asafov explained.

• NATO exercises in Latvia

• © REUTERS / Ints Kalnins

At the same time, he noted that the current tension in the world is due precisely to the actions of Western countries. According to him, we are talking about the many hotbeds of military conflicts in the world, the number of which is only increasing, as well as the constant military exercises that NATO and the United States often conduct right next to Russia, without taking into account its concerns. Asafov also agrees with General Carter that there are indeed fewer diplomatic channels through which one could exchange views and prevent possible escalations.

“The degradation of diplomatic channels has occurred because this area is also subject to a number of restrictions of a sanctioned nature: a reduction in the number of ambassadors and diplomats.

Of course, before there were more points of communication, not only at the level of the UN Security Council, but also at the level of inter-parliamentary interaction.

However, this is no longer there, ”the political scientist said.

In turn, Sergei Ermakov, an expert at the RISS Research Coordination Center, added that NATO is demonstratively refusing to cooperate with Russia, trying to shift the responsibility for aggravating relations to Moscow.

“But Russia has repeatedly stated that it is ready for dialogue and even made steps towards it, but received nothing in return.

After all, everything that even acted within the framework of the Council of Russia and NATO is now blocked - and precisely by the decision of the North Atlantic Alliance.

All these actions just increase the potential for the development of the conflict, ”the analyst said.

According to him, Western countries are too fixated on "containing" Russia instead of trying to talk to it.

“And this despite the fact that the same Russia-NATO Council was a very serious channel that prevented a slide into confrontation.

However, now the alliance is only accepting targeted programs to strengthen its power capabilities.

Moreover, this is being done near the Russian borders with an eye to a possible conflict.

In this way, NATO only provokes Moscow, securing for it the image of the enemy of the collective West, ”summed up Ermakov.