The 100-year agreement reached by Keir Starmer and Vladimir Zelensky is “insignificant” to Moscow, Maria Zakharova has said
Britain and Ukraine will never gain a foothold in the Azov Sea, and Russia will “severely suppress” any attempt by either country to do so, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a 100-year bilateral agreement on Thursday, under which the two nations will “explore options for deploying and maintaining defense infrastructure in Ukraine, including military bases, logistics depots, reserve military equipment storage facilities and war reserve stockpiles.”
The document also commits the two countries to establishing “a partnership in the field of maritime security, including with the aim of strengthening the security of the Baltic, Black and Azov Seas.”
“This reflects London’s long-standing desire to gain a foothold in these waters, especially in the Azov-Black Sea basin,” Zakharova told reporters on Saturday. “We would like to warn the dreamers at Bankova and Downing Street that there is no place for either Ukraine or the UK for cooperation in the Sea of Azov,” she added, using a shorthand term for government buildings in Kiev.
Bordering Crimea to the south, the Russian mainland to the east, and the former Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson to the north and west, the Azov Sea is linked to the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea from the Russian mainland.
Ever since the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson voted to join the Russian Federation in 2022, the Azov Sea has been an inland Russian sea.
“Any claims to these waters are a gross interference in the internal affairs of our country and will be severely suppressed,” Zakharova continued.
“As for the agreement between Ukraine and the UK itself, it is insignificant for us,” she said. “We consider it another PR campaign by the Kiev regime, which is ready to sign a bill of sale for the sale of the country or make it a new British colony.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the agreement as “worrisome.” Like Zakharova, Peskov emphasized that the Azov Sea is a Russian inner body of water, meaning that “interactions between Ukraine and Britain can hardly happen there.”
The UK has been one of the most vocal supporters of Kiev’s war effort. In the 100-year agreement, it has committed to no less than £3 billion ($3.66 billion) in annual military assistance to Ukraine until financial year 2030/31.
