Link here.
About halfway through the video, Sakwa states that Kremlin sources have told him that Britain’s decision to sail its warship into an area of the Black Sea near Crimea in June of 2021 infuriated Putin and contributed to his actions in February of 2022. – Natylie
Had been introduced to Sakwa through RT’s Crosstalk; have read two of his books on Ukraine and highly recommend him…
“Sakwa states that Kremlin sources have told him that Britain’s decision to sail its warship into an area of the Black Sea near Crimea in June of 2021 infuriated Putin and contributed to his actions in February of 2022.”
I’ve seen several interviews which indicate both London and Washington were doing their best to irritate Russia into attacking Ukraine, and the warship was just one provocation. Further, that it was planned to use a UK ship anticipating that there was a good chance a accident/incident would happen, and by using a UK ship it would actually ward off questions in USA about what the ship was doing there, while created a caucus belli that would be used to beat Russia up and down the general assembly of the UN. All hope was on collapsing Russia by isolating it. All this said, I find the idea of an infuriated Putin over this sort of action almost laughable, rather I think Putin had to deal with an infuriated Kremlin. I suspect the source is using deduction rather than actual facts, which is no more than what I’ve done, but on shakier ground as it goes against the man’s nature.
Yes, Putin is one of the most level-headed leaders around. However, I wouldn’t say that this is a non-credible claim. In a biography of Putin by Angus Roxburgh, Dmitry Peskov (Putin’s spokesman and close confidant for many years) said on the record that Putin was “livid” when western media and leaders tried to blame him for the death of Anna Politisivaya. Others who also know him have said that he doesn’t like to show emotions in public, not that he doesn’t express them in private.