The UK is falling behind its allies in preparing for the threat posed by Russia, the head of the British military has warned. Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, chief of the defence staff, said Britain needed to 'catch up with our European allies' in confronting Russia's 'appetite' for risk.
Speaking to the Financial Times, he said: 'This is the most dangerous period I've known in my adult life. That threat — principally from Russia, but more broadly globally — is rising.'
Hostile acts across Europe
The military chief outlined the hostile acts that Putin was ordering across Europe and said the term 'hybrid activity' no longer captured the extent of the disruption. He said: 'We're talking about targeted assassinations, we're talking about sabotage, we're talking about cyber attacks. These are very real, real things [by] the Russian state we have proof of in Europe and to some extent in the UK.'
It comes after European security officials said this week they are investigating whether a series of bomb threats against European airlines originated from Russia. The Kremlin has previously denied involvement in hybrid attacks in Europe, but officials are reportedly increasingly confident that Russia was the likely culprit.
Call for public preparedness
Sir Richard also said that the government should explain the Russian threat to the public 'particularly at a time when the government is asking society to spend more on defence'. He told the BBC on Sunday that he had been stockpiling food supplies for his own family, after the government called for Brits to do the same.
The chief of the defence staff said he spent the weekend clearing out cupboards to discover 'there's a lot of tins in the Knighton household'. He added: 'I put some extra shelves in and this is something, though, we should we should all be thinking about. Our first line of defence for the nation are our emergency services – who do a phenomenal job – and the armed forces. But all of us can play a part in readying ourselves.'
