Breaking News: Kremlin Is Behind Second Referendum on Scottish Independence

According to the Telegraph newspaper, Vladimir Putin most of all wants to lower the status of Britain as the leading power, and the exit of Scotland can seriously assist this.

The British Union Flag (R) and a Scottish Saltire flag (L) fly above the Scottish Office in Whitehall, with the London Eye wheel seen behind, in London (Photo: Reuters / Toby Melville)

If Scotland votes for its independence in the referendum, it will play into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Telegraph newspaper reported. According to the newspaper, members of the Scottish National Party (SNP) do not make a secret out of their admiration for Russia, so if the country gets independence, they will not be against the Russian President using Scotland as a stronghold for further attacks on the rest territory of the Great Britain.

As the newspaper noted, no one will have been more delighted by the decision to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence than Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the Telegraph, the Russian leader likes to scornfully speak out about Britain in public, calling it “a small island no one listens to,” but outside the public space the Russians perfectly understand what Britain is, as well as that it serves as the main tower of strength of NATO and the Transatlantic Alliance.

The newspaper claims that though the British contingent, deployed in Estonia in support of the NATO mission, is relatively small, there is a clear signal that despite Britain’s accelerated preparation for Brexit, the exit from the EU will not affect the country’s role as a leading member of NATO. In addition, Russia understands that the strategic partnership of the UK with the US under the Trump’s administration will only grow stronger. According to the article’s author, for this reason, the Russian leader most of all wants to lower the status of Britain as the leading power in matters of defense and security, and the exit of Scotland can seriously affect this.

In the course of formation of an independent Scotland, the most serious loss would be the network of military bases that protected the UK against the Russian threat from the northern flank. This network includes Faslane, the operational center on the west coast of Scotland, which houses a fleet of the Vanguard submarines, capable of transporting the Trident nuclear weapons systems. In addition, the creation of an independent Scotland would only exacerbate the disintegration of the UK’s military infrastructure, as London would have to review the agreements on non-nuclear defense, relating to the air defense, surveillance of the maritime space, radar ranging and rescue of people in the sea by aircraft.

According to the Telegraph, it is also necessary to take into account the type of relations that independent Scotland could create with the Kremlin. Senior members of the SNP do not make a secret out of their admiration for Russia that was best reflected by the phrase of former leader of the party, Alex Salmond. He said that Mr. Putin deserved praise for restoring Russian pride by his annexation of Crimea.

And since this time, the SNP’s love for the Kremlin has intensified. According to the author of the article, all this assumes that if Scotland gains independence, the SNP will not oppose the fact that its country to be used as “a staging post for further attacks on what is left of the UK.”

“Ms Sturgeon and her SNP supporters would like us to believe that their campaign for Scottish independence is aimed at securing their democratic rights. But behind this facade lies a more sinister agenda, namely the destruction of Britain as a major world power,” the newspaper claims.

As the Telegraph concluded, the anti-British agenda of the SNP is one of the factors that Prime Minister Theresa May and her ministers will have to take into account, when they enter into another battle on the referendum issue. Otherwise, Putin really will be able “to boast that Britain has been reduced to the status of an irrelevant small island.”