Media reports claim that about 20 SAS members operate in Lviv (Photo: Rex)
Russia says it will investigate reports that British SASs have been stationed in western Ukraine – further escalating tensions with the West.
If Vladimir Putin’s forces find that special air services are operating in the country, this could drastically escalate the war, as Britain is a member of NATO.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency quoted a Russian security source this weekend as saying that about 20 members of the elite combat unit had been sent to the Lviv region.
Independent observers have long come to view Russia’s allegations of war with serious skepticism, but the United Kingdom has not denied that its forces are there.
Instead, a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense said: “We do not comment on special forces.”
Britain sent military instructors to Ukraine earlier this year to instruct local forces to use anti-tank weapons.
But on February 17, a week before the invasion, the British government said it had withdrawn all but one needed to protect its ambassador.
Scenes from last week in Lviv, western Ukraine, where SAS allegedly carried out “sabotage” operations (Photo: Getty Images Europe)
Russia’s top state investigative body said on Saturday it would consider a report in the Russian media alleging that SAS sabotage experts had acted in the war.
The SAS is a secret but elite military unit trained to conduct special operations, surveillance and counter-terrorism – and has been used in previous wars.
In a statement, the Investigative Committee said it would follow up on the report that they had been sent “to assist Ukrainian special services in organizing sabotage in Ukraine”.
It is unclear what steps the Investigative Committee would take if it claimed to have established SAS involvement in Ukraine.
But the investigation itself is important, given that Russia has warned the West not to interfere with its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Putin’s forces have also previously used “false flag” operations as a way to justify new offensives.
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