Western leaders have been warned Russia’s war on Ukraine has already spilt over Ukraine’s borders in a new Cold War. Speaking to Express.co.uk, Andrea Pető, a historian and a Professor at the Department of Gender Studies at Central European University, Vienna, Austria, urged Western leaders to stop ignoring potential allies of Vladimir Putin’s Russia within Europe and actively engage in peace negotiations.
She warned: “The conflict is already happening on a bigger scale, this a European war, which has been going on for nearly a decade. The tragedy is that some of the parties involved have not recognised that they are in war.
“The concept of war has changed, and it is no longer men wearing shining uniforms marching on the field, but rather different actors or even outsourced actors who attack emotional and physical infrastructure like the feeling of security or critical infrastructure by cyber-attacks.
“This is a new Cold War where the Iron Curtain is not between blocs of states but within the states themselves. The sooner politicians acknowledge the different camps and try to build consensus, the better chances they have to avoid that one of the blocs inside their country would ally with Russia.”
The warning comes as former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that British public officials are a “legitimate military target” because of the UK’s support for Ukraine.
Mr Medvedev, deputy chairman of Vladimir Putin’s security council, claimed the UK’s support for Kyiv amounted to an “undeclared war” against Russia.
His comments came after Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Ukraine had the right to “project force beyond its borders” into Russia to resist Mr Putin’s invasion.
The Ukrainian authorities have denied launching the drone attack which hit Moscow on Tuesday, but there has been an escalation in incidents within Russia either by Kyiv’s military or local groups opposed to the war.
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In response to the Foreign Secretary, Mr Medvedev said: “The goofy officials of the UK, our eternal enemy, should remember that within the framework of the universally accepted international law which regulates modern warfare, including the Hague and Geneva Conventions with their additional protocols, their state can also be qualified as being at war.
“Today, the UK acts as Ukraine’s ally, providing it with military aid in the form of equipment and specialists, i.e., de facto, is leading an undeclared war against Russia.
“That being the case, any of its public officials (either military, or civil, who facilitate the war) can be considered as a legitimate military target.”
UK defence officials believe the incursions into Russia are causing the redeployment of Moscow’s forces.
The intelligence briefing from the Ministry of Defence said: “Since the start of May 2023, Russia has increasingly ceded the initiative in the conflict and is reacting to Ukrainian action rather than actively progressing towards its own war aims.
“During May 2023, Russia has launched 20 nights of one-way-attack uncrewed aerial vehicle and cruise missile attacks deep inside Ukraine.
“Russia has had little success in its likely aims of neutralising Ukraine’s improved air defences and destroying Ukrainian counter-attack forces. On the ground, it has redeployed security forces to react to partisan attacks inside western Russia.”
In his comments in Estonia on Tuesday, Mr Cleverly said: “Legitimate military targets beyond its own border are part of Ukraine’s self-defence. We should recognise that.
“That is not to say that I have any particular assessment over the attacks in Moscow but, more broadly, military targets beyond its border are internationally recognised as part of a nation’s self-defence.”
On Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary visited Norway for a meeting with Nato counterparts.
He said: “The UK and Nato are making sure Ukraine gets the firepower they need to defend themselves.”