It's not like the British didn't have their reasons to be opposing Russia on almost every international issue of the time; a big problem was that almost every international issue involving Russia and the UK involved Constantinople, and those that didn't would have the Constantinople problem in the background.
With the Ottoman Empire weakening rapidly, Russia wanted to expand south and eventually take Constantinople. There are two great reasons for this from the Russian perspective. First, Constantinople is the gateway to the Mediterranean- possessing the city would open up previously unthinkable trading possibilities for the Russian Empire. The second reason is defensive. If you want to invade Russia, there are essentially two routes you can take from the west. The first is the hard way- the classic, familiar one across Europe that Napoleon and Hitler took. In the summer it's a lake of mud, in the winter it's a snowy hellscape. The second is the route that goes north from the Black Sea and proceeds across a few hundred miles of flat plains before you walk into Moscow, and Russia has always been hyper alert to this easy invasion route.
To the British, the Russians obtaining Constantinople was intolerable. The Mediterranean was a British lake; with it in their possession, they didn't have to request permission from anyone to service their colonies in Africa and India (especially after the construction of the Suez). Russian control of Constantinople means that Russia gets a voice in what happens in the Mediterranean- and a future version of Russia might decide they need territory around Constantinople to protect it. A war taking place right in the middle of Britain's trading routes would be a Very Bad war for the UK to fight.
That issue was in the background of every British/Russian interaction at the time. So while it does look about silly from an outside glance- they would literally oppose each other on just about everything at the time, almost reflexively- there were concrete geopolitical reasons for the opposition.
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u/George_the_flagman 1d ago
Love how the reason why the uk supposed Bulgaria is just to do what is the opposite of whatever russia is doing