UK military drills in Malvinas provocative: Argentina

Argentina has denounced as provocative the UK’s planned military exercises in the disputed Malvinas Islands, known as the Falklands to the British.

“This action falls within a pattern already denounced by [Argentine] President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on 2 April, consisting of provocations and hostile acts towards Argentina from an extra-continental nuclear power,” a spokesman for the Argentine embassy in London said on Saturday.

The remarks came after Argentine Deputy Foreign Minister Eduardo Zuain summoned British ambassador to Buenos Aires John Freeman over the exercises, which are due to take place between 14 and 27 April.

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman also called the drills “a new act of colonial aggression,” adding that Buenos Aires would file a complaint with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Special Committee on Decolonization.

Argentina and Britain fought a 74-day-long war in 1982 over the islands. The conflict ended with the British side claiming victory.

Located about 480 kilometers (300 miles) off Argentina’s coast, the Malvinas Islands have been declared part of the British overseas territories since the UK established its colonial rule on the territories in 1833.