‘The significance of Western arms donations is grossly overestimated. This is not helped by a Western press that has sunk to the level of the Pravda, stifling even the slightest attempts at sober analysis and objective discussion.’

Russia’s military presence in Crimea is a major element in Moscow’s efforts to project power in the Black Sea region and beyond, and the annexation of the peninsula has given it a strategically valuable foothold in the area.

The King’s openly political engagement in Wiltshire confirms the prediction that Charles III may very well become a ‘meddling’ ruler, unlike his predecessor, Queen Elizabeth II.