Russia vows to 'react' after Defence Secretary warns Putin is a threat to Baltic states
RUSSIA has vowed to "find a way to react" after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon today warned the country is a threat to other Baltic states amid the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Mr Fallon said that Nato must be ready to tackle any further aggression from Moscow .
Speaking to journalists accompanying him on a trip to Sierra Leone, Mr Fallon said: "Nato has to be ready for any kind of aggression from Russia, whatever form it takes. Nato is getting ready.
He said that he was "worried about his (Mr Putin) pressure on the Baltics, the way he is testing Nato".
His words came just hours after the RAF were forced to intercept Russian bombers flying over the coast of Cornwall.
The Defence Secretary acknowledged that it was possible that the Russian President would try to attempt a repeat of the covert campaign used to annex Crimea and eastern Ukraine against other former Soviet bloc countries such as Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia.
He said that there was a "real and present dangers" that destabilising tactics used in countries seen as the "near abroad" by Moscow could include irregular troops, cyber attacks and deliberately inflaming tensions with ethnic Russian minorities.
Recent incidents such as two long-range bombers flying down the English Channel on January 28 have prompted speculation over Russia's motives.
Mr Fallon said: "It is the first time since the height of the Cold War that has happened and it just shows you the need to respond each time he does something like that."
He added that the latest actions do not amount to a new Cold War - because the situation is already "pretty warm".
Russian bomber surrounded by RAF jets
Nato has to be ready for any kind of aggression from Russia, whatever form it takes
The Times reported that he said: "You have tanks and armour rolling across the Ukrainian border and you have an Estonian border guard being captured and not yet still returned.
"When you have jets being flown up the English Channel, when you have submarines in the North Sea, it looks to me like it's warming up."
Russia later reacted with fury to the Defence Secretary's comments.
Deputy foreign minister Aleksandr Lukashevich said his words were "beyond diplomatic ethics" and warned that the Kremlin would "find a way to react".
In a statement reported by the Russia Today website, Mr Lukashevich said Mr Fallon's remarks were "absolutely unacceptable".
"His absolutely unacceptable characteristics of the Russian Federation remind me of last year's speech of US president Barack Obama before the UN general assembly, in which he mentioned Russia among the three most serious challenges his country was facing," he said.
"I believe we will find a way to react to Mr Secretary's statements."
The comments came after Prime Minister David Cameron called on Europe to make clear to Russia that it faces economic and financial consequences for "many years to come" if it does not stop destabilising Ukraine.
Mr Cameron said that Europe could not turn a "blind eye" to Moscow's actions.
He said: Those Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, they are using Russian rocket launchers, Russian tanks, Russian artillery, you can't buy this equipment on eBay, it hasn't come from somewhere else, it's come from Russia and we know that," he said.
"So we have to be very firm and strong about the sanctions and say to Vladimir Putin: 'What you are doing is unacceptable and it will have economic and financial consequences for many years to come if you do not desist with your behaviour'."
Mr Cameron added that he will continue to pressure partners in the EU to maintain the current sanctions in place against the Kremlin.
He said: "Of course there's a temptation for every European country just to say 'Let's go on trading exactly as we have done with Russia, let's leave responsibility for what is happening in Ukraine to someone else and let's turn away'.
"I am afraid that would be a terrible mistake and Britain has been leading the argument in Europe saying Russia's behaviour in Ukraine has been completely unacceptable and consequences must follow that in terms of sanctions."
Despite a ceasefire agreed during peace talks last weeks, fierce fighting has continued in eastern areas of the country.
Six Ukrainian servicemen were killed as the Government forces pulled out from the key strategic town of Debaltseve, the country's president Petro Poroshenko said.
The leader claimed this was contrary to the ceasefire agreement reached last week.
This morning the tentative truce was again breached when pro-Russian separatists launched mortar attacks on the village of Shyrokine, near Mariupol and locals said the rebels were building up their forces.
On Sky News the Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas said the European Union (EU) should not tolerate Russian aggression.
He said: "It's always difficult to tell what the Kremlin's real motivations are.
"We see a clear imperialist way of thinking and we see a clear ambition to intervene in other countries' sovereign business.
"The most remarkable examples are of course Ukraine but Georgia as well.
"We mustn't forget that already in 2008 Russia attacked the sovereign European state Georgia.
"This is something neither the European Union, nor the whole international community should tolerate.
"We should make it very clear that this is not in any country's business to intervene in other country's sovereign decisions."
