RUSSIA has warned it ‘will not hesitate’ to attack Gibraltar if Ukraine uses British weapons in its territory.
The threat, made last Thursday, came from Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She told reporters that British enclaves would find themselves in the firing line, both ‘within Ukraine and beyond its borders’, if UK weaponry is found to have been used on Russian soil.
Zakharova specified that such enclaves include military bases inside the war zone, as well as military installations in Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands and Africa.
It comes after Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Ukraine’s military had the right to use London-supplied weapons to attack targets in its interior.
The comment infuriated Putin and his government cited it as one of the reasons behind exercises simulating the launch of tactical nuclear missiles this month.
Putin and his cronies now believe London is becoming increasingly involved in the conflict.
But any attack by the dictator on British targets could trigger a direct military response from the UK and its NATO allies, including Spain.
It would drag much of Europe and the US into a complex, region-wide conflict.
In a military report last year, the UK said Gibraltar was one of its five most important strategic outposts.
It said the territory can ‘act as a springboard’ for Britain to project its power throughout the world, branding it ‘essential’ in combating ‘current and future threats.’
