British ships have caught thousands of tonnes of cod and haddock in Russian waters – and Moscow says a 1956 agreement was lifted in response to UK sanctions on six people who ran the penal colony where they died Alexei Navalny.
Thursday 22 February 2024 08:31, UK
Russia has pulled out of a long-standing agreement with the UK – putting fish and chips at risk.
A 1956 treaty allowing British boats to fish in the Barents Sea has been torn up, in the latest sign of growing tensions between Moscow and the West.
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The fishing agreement was signed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, but Russian politicians now claim it was never in the national interest.
Parliamentary spokesman Vyacheslav Volodin said: “The British need to learn some proverbs – ‘The Russians use the horse slowly, but it rides fast’.”
On Wednesday, the UK imposed sanctions on six people in charge of the Arctic penal colony where Alexei Navalny, to Vladimir Putin fiercest critic, died last week.
Mr Volodin said the withdrawal from the fishing agreement was a direct response to these sanctions – as British vessels had caught thousands of tonnes of cod and haddock in Russian waters.
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A close ally of Putin, the politician also doubled down on the Kremlin’s view that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a tragedy.
He said: “With Gorbachev, we lost our country, and with Putin we got it back.”
Last year, Sky News reported that up to 40% of cod and haddock consumed in the UK comes from Russia and Russian territory – with Moscow accused of “weapon food”.
