Britain says Russia doesn't need to be aggressive to play part on world stage

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly arrives at Downing Street in London, Britain February 11, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia needs to understand that it does not need to be militarily aggressive or provocative in order to be a significant player on the world stage, British junior foreign minister James Cleverly said on Thursday.

Asked about an incident on Wednesday where Britain intercepted and escorted four Russian bomber aircraft approaching its area of interest, Cleverly said he wouldn't go into details on the incident but drew parallels with tensions on the border of Ukraine, where Russia is massing troops.

"I can't work out what Russia hopes to achieve by this series of quite provocative, or indeed very provocative, actions. We need them to understand that they can be an important significant player on the world stage without the kind of military aggression that we're seeing" Cleverly told Sky News.

"We have made it absolutely clear that whether it is our own airspace, whether it is the territorial integrity of our NATO allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder."

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by William James)