The British Foreign Secretary showed Putin the "character of an iron lady"

 

During his visit to Estonia, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss boarded a tank on a snowy test site. According to The Daily Telegraph, this was a posing for the press from a good angle, which was intended to show Vladimir Putin that Britain is serious about protecting Ukraine from aggression on its eastern border.

According to a government source, Truss "wanted to see our troops on the NATO front line, understand how they are training and preparing for aggression, and thank them for the work they are doing to protect the Alliance's eastern flank."

   She warned Vladimir Putin against "actions aimed at undermining freedom and democracy in our partner countries", saying that invading Ukraine would be a "strategic mistake".

"We will support Ukraine and the stability of the Western Balkans to ensure their security and strengthen their economic sustainability," she said.

Trass denied allegations that the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine was a response to NATO provocations, and promised to "support our friendly democracies" in the fight against "malicious" activities in the region.

  As the newspaper notes, the sight of Liz Truss riding in the Challenger 2 tank in the Estonian town of Tapa is reminiscent of the West's opposition to another Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Thirty-five years ago, then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was photographed riding in a similar position in an earlier modification of the same tank at a NATO test site near the West German town of Fallingbostel.

Thatcher then fired a six-pound training projectile from the tank using a laser guidance system. She later said she liked it. As the newspaper notes, unlike Margaret Thatcher, the foreign minister did not fire from a tank cannon.