A ruling by a Russian judge may be the reason the UK was forced to ground a plane scheduled to take illegal migrants to Rwanda, a publication has claimed.
A flight scheduled to take migrants who arrived in the UK to Rwanda may have been grounded by a Russian judge, a British broadsheet publication is now claiming.
The possibility comes at a period of extreme tension between the two nations, with Russian officials even accusing — somewhat farcically, all things considered — the British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at one point of pushing the world toward a nuclear war.
Now, a claim published by The Telegraph on Wednesday that it may have been a Russian who grounded a symbolically important deportation flight which was due to send illegal migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda may further undermine the already shakey British faith in the European Court of Human Rights.
Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe — the parent body to the European Court of Human Rights which while having the same flag and anthem as the EU is not the EU — in March. But as the Telegraph claims, the expulsion of the belligerent nation from the European Court which yesterday blocked Britain’s deportation flight doesn’t come into effect until September, meaning Russia still has a judge sitting with the body.
According to The Telegraph’s claims, the ECHR has refused to clarify exactly which judges were responsible for ruling against the British government and, by extension, grounding the flight, prompting speculation that it is at least theoretically possible that Russia’s man Mikhail Lobov played a role in the decision.
The UK has led the European pack in terms of confronting Russia, with the nation underwriting considerable support for Ukraine, both verbally and financially. Ukrainian leader Zelensky has repeatedly called the United Kingdom, and Boris Johnson in particular, Ukraine’s most steadfast ally.
This enthusiasm for going toe to toe with Russia even led at one point to the UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, voicing her support for British citizens travelling to Ukraine to fight, despite such actions being arguably against British law.
Russia was quick to react, picking out the British official by name as pushing the world ever-closer towards nuclear armageddon. The government later U-turned on Truss’s support for such wannabe soldiers.
This week, Russian media openly mocked Truss over her failure to support British citizens allegedly captured fighting for Ukraine, who have been sentenced to death for their trouble.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s government has continued to deliver Ukraine weapons and other militarily relevant resources to the tune of billions of pounds, donations underwritten by the British taxpayer.
“The UK has already committed more than £2.8 billion to support Ukraine through humanitarian aid and grants, as well as military kit including 120 armoured vehicles, air defence systems and more than 6,500 anti-tank missiles,” a press release published last week by the UK government read.
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