Russia has accused London ‘puppet masters’ of being behind a Ukrainian drone attack (Image: Getty)
Russia’s spy service has bizarrely accused Britain of restarting the 19th-century Crimean War after 170 years to avenge the humiliation of the Charge of the Light Brigade. The SVR agency has claimed that London “puppet masters” were behind a Ukrainian drone strike on the Sevastopol Defence Museum.
As Vladimir Putin’s control slips over annexed Crimea due to Ukrainian strikes on the Russian occupiers, the espionage service is blaming the UK for the Kremlin’s problems. “The Ukrainians were most likely unaware of the true objective of the attack,” alleged the SVR – successor to the KGB – today. “The flight missions were uploaded to the weapon systems by British specialists posing as military advisers. “Why, then, did the British target the panorama depicting the heroic defence of the city during the Crimean War of 1853–1856?
The Sevastopol Defence Museum was hit in a Ukrainian drone strike last month (Image: Getty)
“After all, there were no military installations near the museum building.
“The fact is that the conflict in Ukraine is largely perceived in London as an attempt at revenge for a 19th-century project – which never came to fruition – to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.”
According to the madcap theory, the museum, which was hit last month, “is a historical trigger, evoking painful memories among the British of a gruelling military campaign that resulted in colossal losses amongst the United Kingdom’s highest elite.” For the “prideful” British, the “burning of the panorama became an act of destroying evidence of the Russian soldier’s heroism”.
The SVR – which increasingly portrays Britain as Moscow’s principal villain and driving force behind the West’s backing for Ukraine, the main obstacle to Putin’s triumph – warned: “It is regrettable that London has still not learnt the lessons of the past.
Crimea was hit with a total blackout on Monday after strike on power stations by Ukraine (Image: Getty)
“We are convinced that the British will still have to answer for this attack, just as they will for many other barbaric crimes against the peoples of Russia and Ukraine.”
The SVR is headed by spymaster Sergey Naryshkin, 71, a close Putin crony, known for espousing conspiracy theories.
“He’s losing the plot with this nonsense,” said a Western source.
At the same time, Crimea was hit by a total blackout on Monday (July 6) due to Ukrainian strikes on power stations, as the destruction of bridges and ferries is limiting access to the Black Sea peninsula.
In 1854, 110 men were killed and 160 wounded in a huge British military blunder (Image: Getty)
The Crimean War is known for the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854. Of the roughly 670 men who rode into battle, about 110 were killed and 160 wounded by a tsarist artillery battery in one of the most famous military blunders in British history.
Pro-Kremlin historian Pavel Danilin said: “Revenge for the Light Brigade, perished under Russian guns, burns in [British] hearts, along with their hatred of Russians”.
Despite the famous disaster, Britain and its allies – France, the Ottoman Empire and later Sardinia – defeated Russia, leading to the Treaty of Paris in 1856.
The war brought English nurse, statistician and social reformer Florence Nightingale to international prominence. In 1854, she led a team of 38 nurses to the British military hospital at Scutari, where her reforms in hygiene, sanitation and patient care dramatically reduced mortality and laid the foundations of modern professional nursing.