MP of little UK town at top of Russia's hit list responds to Russian state TV call for missile strike
Unsurprisingly, the MP for a UK town on Russia's hit list would prefer it if his constituency wasn't targeted by a missile strike.
In between distributing Vladimir Putin's propaganda and pretending that his three-day 'special military operation' in Ukraine which has lasted longer than four years isn't going horribly, Russian state TV loves talking about the bits of Europe they're going to bomb.
Russia allegedly has a list of places in the UK they want to target for the links they've got with Britain's defence industry, which is making weapons that are being supplied to the Ukrainians.
If they don't want to be on the receiving end of weapons being supplied to a particular country then perhaps they ought to stop invading that country, but while that would seem to be the simplest option it doesn't appear to be happening.
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So Russian state TV rages about its list of targets and host Vladimir Solovyov raged against Stevenage, because an MBDA factory that makes Storm Shadow missiles is located there.
"Every time I read about another Storm Shadow missile strike deep into Russia, I genuinely don't understand why we don't hit the Storm Shadow factory in the UK," Putin's propagandist said.
"What's the problem?"
Presumably with this approach Bristol and Bolton would be on the list too, since they also have MBDA facilities.
However, Stevenage MP Kevin Bonavia had a response for Russian state TV and their sabre rattling, as The Comet reported that he'd responded by calling out Solovyov's 'empty threats'.
He also spoke of his pride that Stevenage was doing their part to supply the defender in the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
"If these empty threats are meant to scare people in Stevenage, they've got another thing coming," the MP said.
"I'm proud of our town's role in supporting the Ukrainian people in fighting against Putin's illegal invasion.
"The Storm Shadows are clearly rattling Putin's war machine and we will not back down until Ukraine achieves the peace it deserves."
Also, if Russia did try and missile strike Stevenage then it'd be in effect declaring war on a NATO member which would allow the UK to bring many other countries into the conflict.
With Russia spending years and year struggling against Ukraine their prospects against the majority of European countries combined would not seem encouraging.
The full list of alleged targets
- Glasgow – BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Thales
- Belfast – Harland & Wolff, Spirit Aerosystems, Thales
- Fivemiletown – Cooneen Defence
- Barrow-in-Furness – BAE Systems
- Bolton – MBDA
- Telford – RBSL
- Aberporth – QinetiQ, Tekever
- Merthyr Tydfil – General Dynamics
- Glascoed – BAE Systems
- Bristol – Airbus, BAE Systems, GKN Aerospace, Leonardo, MBDA, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce
- HMNB Devonport – Babcock
- Yeovil – Leonardo
- Aldermaston – AWE
- London – Helsing, Palantir
- Stevenage – Airbus, MBDA
- Ampthill – Lockheed Martin
- Derby – Rolls-Royce
- Sheffield – Sheffield Forgemasters
- Warton & Samlesbury – BAE Systems
- Newton Aycliffe – Octric Semiconductors
- Tyne & Wear – BAE Systems, Leonardo
- Edinburgh – Leonardo
- Rosyth – Babcock, QinetiQ
Joe Harker