British Empire Maneuvers Itself into Position To Dominate Ukrainian Defense Policy

June 25, 2021 (EIRNS)—The British Empire is maneuvering to control crucial elements and forces of Ukrainian defense policy, in order to dominate that policy. Since 2015, the British have sunk multiple hooks into Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and Armed Forces, and the June 23 deployment of the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Defender to violate Russia’s maritime border around Crimea in the Black Sea should be seen in this context. That naval deployment, severely condemned by the Russian government, whose military dropped high explosive fragmentation bombs in the Defender’s path of movement, could have escalated to potentially nuclear levels.

The June 24 Morning Briefing reported that on June 22, the U.K. and Ukrainian governments signed an agreement—on the deck of the HMS Defender in Odessa—for a British $1.7 billion sale of eight Barzan-class fast-attack missile boats to the Ukrainian Navy. The June 22 Defense News reported that at the same time, that British military contractors, including missile maker MBDA, sensor builder Thales, and project management consultancy Royal Haskoning DHV, are in touch with Ukraine to help Ukraine’s military.

Further, in 2015, Britain initiated Operation ORBITAL, the codename given to the U.K. Armed Forces’ deployment in Ukraine after Crimea voted to reunite with Russia in 2014. Several hundred British troops, according to the Ministry of Defense are training Ukrainians in medical, logistics, counter improvised explosive devices; anti-armor; counter-sniping; and maritime capacity building: diving, firefighting, damage control and sea surveillance, according to the program. But it is likely that the training goes further. The British have reportedly trained 18,100 Ukrainian troops in British methods.

At the same time, the British undertook a parallel mission for the Ukrainian Navy, attempting to integrate it into NATO’s mission. On August 19, 2020, U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace defined its objective, “The Maritime Training Initiative will enable even closer collaboration with the NATO Alliance and Armed Forces around the world, and allows us to build on Ukraine’s new NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner status.” Wallace threatened that its mission would engage in combatting “threats in the Black Sea.” Now the British are building combat ships for the Ukrainians, even as the U.S. is purportedly holding back funds for lethal weapons for Ukraine.

Finally, the British made an agreement with Ukraine to help set Ukraine’s defense policy firsthand. A position was created for a high-ranking British military officer to serve as “Special Defense Advisor” to sit on Ukraine’s Defense Reform Advisory Board, which is shaping its military rebuilding and defense posture. For the last few years, this position has been held by retired British four-star Gen. Sir Gordon Messenger, former Deputy Chief of the British Defense Staff. Messenger is not only a Commander of the British Empire, but a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, one of the highest elite orders of Britain, which is headed by Queen Elizabeth II.

This British apparatus is dominating Ukraine’s defense policy.

The British takeover of Ukrainian defense policy evokes historical parallels to the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902-1922. Like Britain’s current arrangements with Ukraine, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty was aimed against Russia. Ships for the Imperial Japanese Navy were built in British shipyards and Britain aided Japan during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) by denying access to coaling stations to the Russian Baltic Fleet as it sailed around the continent of Africa and across the Indian Ocean to fight the Japanese. The British Naval Attaché in Tokyo, Adm. William Pakenham, spent much of the war aboard the Japanese battleship Asahi, which had been built in Scotland, to direct the assault upon Russia.