Russia sowed the British wind, now it is reaping the whirlwind

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine in February 2022, he laid the foundation for what would become the bloodiest and most destabilizing European conflict since World War II. Putin attacked Ukraine not because he was worried about a threat from its territory or the possibility it might one day join NATO. Rather, by his own prewar threats, Putin invaded Ukraine because he believes it is nothing more than a detached limb of Mother Russia.Facing this imperialist war of conquest, the United Kingdom has resolutely supported Ukraine’s defense with arms, sanctions on Russia, and other support. As first reported by the Washington Examiner, British special forces have played a key role in this effort.Today, the war is going badly for Putin. He is trading massive casualties — Russian forces have suffered nearly 500,000 dead since the war began — for minuscule territorial gains. Russia’s economy is creaking. And just as Ukrainian drone units have wrought havoc upon the front lines, they are now striking daily against industrial and energy targets deep inside Russia. Moscow has grown increasingly furious with the U.K.’s support for this defensive campaign. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the U.K. is now a direct participant in the war. Putin’s spokesman similarly observed on Monday that “Britain methodically and regularly adds fuel to the fire.” Russia is threatening new, undefined consequences for London. This rhetoric is designed to spark British fear that its government is testing Russian patience too far. In reality, however, Russia only has itself to blame for the U.K.’s engagement with Ukraine. To borrow from Arthur Harris, who led Britain’s Bomber Command during World War II, Russia has “sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.”That whirlwind will gather added fury following British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s visit to Kyiv on Monday.After all, Burnham came not with an apology that threats from Moscow would force him to reduce support for Kyiv. Instead, he brought with him a licensing agreement for Ukraine to build and adapt British Storm Shadow stealth missiles. Ukraine has used previous supplies of these missiles to strike and hold at risk Russian forces well behind the front line. But to understand why Russia is reaping a British whirlwind of its own making, we must look back over the past 10 years.This still taken from CCTV and issued by the Metropolitan Police in London on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, shows Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov at Salisbury train station on March 3, 2018. (Metropolitan Police via AP) Take the two people in this article’s header photo. They are officers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service. The image comes from security camera footage that was released following their attempted assassination of a former British intelligence agent, Sergei Skripal. In early March 2018, Skripal, his daughter, and a police officer all became seriously ill when the GRU men sprayed a Novichok nerve agent on the door handle of Skripal’s English home. The GRU kill team then dumped the remaining Novichok, hidden in a perfume bottle. Three months later, an innocent woman sprayed herself with it after her boyfriend found the discarded bottle. She died. Dawn Sturgess’s grieving family then received disdainful insults from Russia. Indeed, the Russians seem to think the incident was hilarious.This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Russian aggression against the U.K. Numerous other enemies of Putin were killed on British soil prior to 2018. It was a campaign of terrorism tolerated by successive British governments to protect vast Russian investments in and around London. Moscow has also repeatedly attacked the U.K. since the Ukraine war began. This has included numerous arson attacks, including against the private residence of then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer; the planting of explosives on cargo planes departing the U.K.; the targeting of the U.K.’s undersea energy and communications cables; repeated high-cost cyberattacks even on Britain’s health service; and the failed downing of U.K. spy plane in international airspace.THE STALEMATE INCREASINGLY SUITS TRUMP OVER IRANFor all these reasons, the Trump administration should stand resolute in support of the U.K. amid Russia’s brinkmanship.The U.S.-U.K. special relationship faces real challenges. Still, since entering office last month, Burnham has made positive signals, such as moving to address U.S. concerns over inadequate British defense spending. And Putin’s disingenuous praise for Trump aside, we shouldn’t forget that Russia also revels in hostility toward the United States. The Trump administration should build upon its recent support for Latvia and clarify that it will respond robustly to any Russian attacks on the U.K.