Perfidious Albion is, we are told, at it again. In the course of a wide-ranging and often quite surreal speech at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Vladimir Putin accused Britain of being behind attempted nuclear terrorism, rhetorically asking whether the government was 'trying to provoke us into retaliating against Ukrainian atomic power stations' or whether the British Prime Minister even 'knows what his secret services are doing in Ukraine?' Needless to say, no evidence is forthcoming to support Putin's claims that a number of Ukrainian 'saboteurs' had been intercepted and detailed by Russia's Federal Security Service on their way to break the power lines at an unnamed Russian nuclear power station. He continued that, 'during interrogation, they admitted that they had been trained under the guidance of British instructors.' In case anyone might be a little sceptical, he added that he assured everyone 'that this is the complete, absolute, pure truth.' Of course, as he recognised, 'the possible reaction that they will say everything at gunpoint.' But have confidence because Putin reaffirmed that 'no, that's not true.' Of course, British intelligence has been supporting its Ukrainian counterparts, and leaked US intelligence files claimed that perhaps 50 British special forces were also in-country, presumably largely carrying out training. I have absolutely no idea whether they have been training their Ukrainian counterparts in covert missions inside Russia. However, the idea that London is either able to task Kyiv's special forces, let alone that it would sanction nuclear terrorism, is fundamentally to misunderstand the constraints on British covert operations - whether carried out directly or by proxy - and, for that matter, our appetite for risk. Even Putin seemed to accept that this might be a hard case to make, so he doubled down on his conspiratorial narrative, arguing that the British government may be ignorant of everything. After all, 'the British intelligence services, in turn, act under the leadership of the same Americans.' So what is going on? First of all, Putin is playing to a domestic audience. His increasingly strident propaganda is meant to try and persuade Russians that the Motherland faces a genuine and existential threat, not just or so much from Ukraine but Nato and the shadowy 'Anglo-Saxons' who are the root of all their woes. This message is not really landing, but all Putin can really do is increase the drama and volume of his claims. Secondly, this speaks to Putin's own wordview, one in which almost everyone is just the catspaw of someone else - Ukraine is Britain's, Britain is America's - without agency or constant, and one in which threatening nuclear disaster is actually not impossible. After all, the captured Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station has essentially become a glorified shield for Russian forces to shelter under, as if daring the Ukrainians to shell them. If Putin is told this kind of nonsense from some of the hawks who now surround him, he is unlikely to question them - and has no one left around him willing or able to do it for him. Finally, with his artful question 'are they provoking us to take some kind of retaliatory action against Ukrainian nuclear facilities and power plants?' Putin is also speaking to a fraction of opinion in the West. He used to panic them with hints that he would use tactical nuclear weapons, mobilising them to argue that Kyiv needs to be pressurised to reach a deal with Moscow, however unfair, lest matters escalate out of hand. However, even since China's Xi read him the riot act over even the pretence of breaking the nuclear taboo back in March, he has had to adopt a new tack, instead threatening nuclear terrorism, or simply a catastrophic accident involving a nuclear plant. As Putin prepares to meet North Korea's Kim Jong Un now that his armoured palace on rails has finally trundled its way to Vladivostok, perhaps they will be sharing notes on how best to signal nuclear blackmail. Of course, the difference is that Putin will talk the talk, but only the North Koreans may - just may - be willing to walk the walk.
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