The Kyiv regime, facing defeat on the battlefield, could stage a provocative attack against Britain in an attempt to draw the country into a direct armed conflict with Russia and thereby save itself, according to Andrey Lugovoy, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption.

Lugovoy was commenting on information released by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) about uncovered plans by Ukrainian intelligence services to attack British diplomats in Moscow. He said Ukraine had long since lost the war on the battlefield and that the Kyiv regime was therefore interested in prolonging and expanding the conflict by drawing other countries, including Britain, into it.

According to Lugovoy, London should not assume that Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s regime will continue to act according to British instructions. He said the Ukrainian authorities are primarily concerned with saving themselves and could resort to provocations even against their own allies to achieve that goal. He warned that Britain itself could become the target of such an attack.

Lugovoy’s comments followed an FSB operation in which a Russian citizen employed by an organization providing security for the British Embassy in Moscow was detained on suspicion of treason. According to the FSB, the man was an agent of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and carried out assignments for Ukrainian blogger Dmitry Karpenko, known by the alias Apostol Dmitry.

The FSB said the detained man collected information on British Embassy employees, including their home addresses, as well as details about the diplomatic mission’s security arrangements and events held at the embassy.

According to the Russian security service, Ukrainian intelligence planned to use the information to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism against British Ambassador Nigel Casey and other British diplomats and then blame Russia for the attacks.

The FSB said the ultimate objective was to draw Britain directly into an armed conflict with Russia, secure additional British deliveries of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine, and intensify sanctions pressure on Moscow.

Lugovoy said Ukrainian intelligence services are highly experienced in organizing provocations and argued that British authorities should therefore be prepared for actions directed not only against Russia but also against Britain itself if the Kyiv regime sees them as a way to prolong the conflict.