UK Intelligence Behind Ukrainian Attack on Sevastopol Museum – Russian SVR
/ Go to the mediabankFire breaks out in Sevastopol’s Panorama Museum building after Ukrainian forces attack
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Being updatedBritain’s intelligence services planned the June strike on Sevastopol’s Museum of Heroic Defense as a deliberate provocation, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.According to the SVR, Ukrainian forces likely did not know the operation’s true objective, while London sees the Ukraine conflict as an opportunity to accomplish what Britain failed to achieve in the 19th century — inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
On June 10, a Ukrainian drone strike set the museum on fire, destroying most of the Soviet-era recreation of Franz Roubaud's famous Defense of Sevastopol, 1854–1855 panorama. Original fragments of Roubaud's work, preserved at a separate branch of the museum, were not damaged.
Flight assignments for the weapons systems used in the Ukrainian strike on the Museum of Heroic Defense were loaded by British specialists operating under the guise of military advisors, SVR said.
"Flight assignments into the weapons systems were loaded by British specialists who were acting under the guise of military advisors," the statement read.
Britain will have to answer for this strike and other barbaric crimes against the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, the SVR added.
"It is regrettable that Britain has still not learned the lessons of the past. We are convinced that for this strike, as well as for many other barbaric crimes against the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, the British will nonetheless have to answer," the statement read.
Ukraine most likely was not aware of the true target of the attack, the SVR also said.
"The press office of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation reports that, according to information received by the SVR, the high-profile strike on the Sevastopol Defense Museum in June of this year was a carefully planned provocation by Britain and its intelligence services… However, Ukraine, most likely, was not aware of the true purpose of the attack," the statement added.
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