Putin declares war on Britain’s CHIPPYS as 68-year-old peace treaty allowing UK trawlers to catch Russian cod ripped up

VLADIMIR Putin has declared war on British fish and chip shops after scrapping an agreement that allowed British trawlers to fish for Russian cod.

It is assumed that the Russian tyrant personally made the decision to cancel the agreement signed almost 70 years ago.

Image shows a fishing trawler in the Barents Sea – where the UK will no longer be able to fish Credit: east2west news

Putin hopes to throw a wrench in Britain’s fish and chip tradeCredit: Alamy

Putin’s plotting of the move comes as revenge against the UK, which has crippled the Russian economy with sanctions over the war in Ukraine and supplying Kiev with missiles.

His compliant parliament ended an agreement signed by the Soviet Union that allowed British ships to fish in the Barents Sea.

The 71-year-old dictator’s warships could now be used against any trawlers looking to catch cod on Putin’s doorstep.

In Moscow, the trick is seen as a masterstroke personally ordered by Putin, which hits the British where it hurts.

Russian parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said it was an attempt to take Britain’s favorite dinner off the table.

He said: “Putin returned Crimea to Russia and will forever go down in history as the president who returned our territory.

“And again, it was his decision: he returned the fish to us.

“Because unscrupulous British people ate it for 68 years.

“They announced sanctions on us, but they themselves make 40 percent of their diet, their fish menu, from our cod.

“Let them lose weight now, let them get wiser. Because cod and other types of fish, including haddock, make up 40 percent of their diet. And it’s one of their favorite dishes.

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“Now we have returned this favorite dish to them at the initiative of our president.”

But the defiant National Federation of Fish Fryers (NFFF) – which represents Britain’s fish and chip industry – laughed off Putin’s attempt to hit out at the UK.

NFFF chairman Andrew Crook told The Sun: “This was just a small attempt by the Russians to appear to be responding to the sanctions imposed on them by the British government.

“But the reality is that we do not fish in Russian waters in the Barents Sea.

“There is only one British registered ship that will do, the Kirkella, but it doesn’t go that far.

“The life cycle of cod is such that the young fish go to that area to grow and are left alone to grow so that there is the necessary biomass in the future when it returns to the fishing grounds in the Barents Sea.”

Loyalist Volodin, 60, argued that Moscow was negligent in not catching the British sooner.

He added: “The agreement was concluded 68 years ago, in 1956.

“England was simply given it unilaterally and was allowed to hunt close to our shores.

“And what did our country get? And why was it not decided to terminate the contract earlier?

MP Roza Chemeris whined: “Last year alone, more than 500,000 tonnes of fish were caught under this agreement.”

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The decision to “cancel” the contract was initially leaked to the Izvestia newspaper, owned by a media conglomerate headed by the dictator’s longtime lover Alina Kabaeva, 40.

For nearly 70 years, even at the height of the Cold War, British ships were allowed to fish off the coast of the Kola Peninsula and east of Cape Kanin Nos, as well as around Kolguev Island and other islands.

Moscow said it was taking the steps after Britain excluded Russia from its most-favoured-nation status in March 2023.

Putin’s regime was particularly enraged by additional tariffs of 35 percent on imports of certain Russian goods, including copper and vodka.

Britain said this was done to “inflict maximum damage to the Russian economy while minimizing the negative consequences for the UK”.

The 1956 agreement led to an increase in UK fishing in the Barents Sea.

In 1961, UK vessels caught 158,000 tonnes of cod in the Barents Sea.

Nine years later this rose to 181,000 tonnes as cod wars reduced catches around Iceland.

Fishing quotas reduced the allowable catch.

The United Kingdom-USSR Fisheries Agreement was signed in Moscow on 25 May 1956 by Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Kuznetsov and the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to the USSR William Hayter.

A UK Government spokesman said: “The UK has not received any official notification from the Russian Federation on this matter. UK vessels do not fish in these Russian waters so this would not have a material impact on our fish stocks, including cod or haddock.

“Russia’s continued unilateral withdrawal from numerous international cooperation treaties is symptomatic of its self-inflicted isolation on the world stage as a result of its illegal invasion of Ukraine.”