Britain is telling households to prepare for national emergencies, including keeping food and bottled water at home. Moscow has now gone further, warning that British military targets could be struck in response to Ukraine's use of British-made missiles. And in the middle of the escalating rhetoric, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has made a rare, unannounced journey to Moscow.
The developments do not establish that a wider war or World War III is imminent. But taken together, they show how a conflict that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is producing increasingly direct pressure on the countries supporting Kyiv. Britain's military backing is becoming a particular target of Moscow's warnings, while Washington appears to be trying to prevent the confrontation from spilling into a direct Russia-NATO clash.
