MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. Moscow is entitled to consider British missile forces' involvement in strikes on Russia as direct participation in the conflict in Ukraine, with all ensuing consequences, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"You know, I feel sorry for the UK if it stays with Ukraine until the very end," Lavrov told Vesti journalist Pavel Zarubin.

"President [Vladimir Putin] warned of our right to act in any part of the world's oceans if anyone encroaches on our interests or property. We have precisely the same right to regard Britain's publicly declared direct involvement of its missile forces in strikes on Russia as participation in the war, with all ensuing consequences," Lavrov stressed.