In an exclusive interview, Tobias Ellwood, chair of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, has told GB News that Russian naval activity in the English Channel cannot be separated from military activity on the Ukrainian border and is part of an "absolute strategy of constant political competition".
Conservative chair of the Defence Committee Tobias Ellwood has told GB News Russian naval activity off the Channel is designed to 'make us flinch.'
House of Commons
Asked whether Russia's naval activity in British waters could be taken in isolation from Putin's other military exploits, the Bournemouth East MP said Russian vessels "moving up and down the Channel" was "all part of Russian pressure and designed to make us flinch."
On September 13 last year, a Russian spy ship - the Yantar - was spotted off the coast of Plymouth. The vessel has the capability to cut vital internet cables that, if severed, would significantly impact global communications.
Mr Ellwood noted Russia "potentially looking to snip our cables' was part of Putin's strategy aimed at 'making us more nervous."
This comes as President Putin has sent approximately 100,000 troops to the Ukrainian border, signalling the potential intent to invade.
A view shows Russian T-72B3 main battle tanks during combat exercises at the Kadamovsky range in the southern Rostov region.
SERGEY PIVOVAROV
On Friday, Ukrainian government websites were disabled in a cyber attack, although the perpetrators are yet to be revealed.
US and Russian officials met in Geneva to discuss Russia's military activity on the border with Ukraine, however Mr Ellwood believes that meeting was a "prelude" and "part of plan for Putin to make clear he had no intention to invade."
"He [Putin] set up conditions which the West couldn't agree to - of Nato essentially rolling back from its interests in Eastern Europe - so Russia can then blame Nato for itself wanting to advance its own defence posture.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attend security talks at the United States Mission in Geneva.
DENIS BALIBOUSE
'...clearly that's unacceptable, so I'm afraid [from] my own personal view, I'd say that we are a step closer to some form of invasion.'
Mr Ellwood told GB News that people must not forget that 'the area around Donetsk and so forth is already run by proxy Russian forces, so a limited incursion just to prove it was all worth keeping 100,000 troops there, could just take them up to the area that they more or less control de facto anyway.'
However the Bournemouth East MP conceded that 'there is potential' for a refugee crisis if Russia 'venture further west towards Crimea' and 'that other strip of land that links Belarus to Kaliningrad.'
