Britain is ‘totally ill-equipped’ to deal with Russian nuclear threat and could be ‘wiped out’, top military expert reveals
West's focus on terrorism and the Middle East 'has given aggressive Russia the upper hand'
BRITAIN is massively under-prepared for a nuclear war with Russia, a top military expert has warned.
Heightened tensions with Putin's Russia have seen renewed scrutiny being put on our defence capabilities.
And an expert on Britain's relations with the increasingly belligerent nation has warned we could be easily wiped out in a nuclear conflict.
Even as NATO forces step up training in the potential battleground Baltic states, Moscow chiefs have been one step ahead -- organising a huge programme of bunker-building and growing its apocalyptic nuclear arsenal.
And worse still, Britain is lagging way behind on military strategy, training standards and even our basic defence system.
That's according to Dr Andrew Foxall, director of Russian studies at influential think-tank The Henry Jackson Society.
He told : "As things stand, the UK is ill-equipped to deal with Russia.
"There is an urgent need to strengthen not only the UK’s defences, but those of NATO members as a whole.
"The alliance simply isn’t doing enough to build up the range of capabilities necessary to deter an aggressive and resurgent Russia."
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Dr Foxall believes that the West's shift to focus on terrorism and conflicts in the Middle East over recent years has meant our traditional military capabilities have suffered.
He added: "For almost two decades, the UK, with its NATO partners, has focused on counterinsurgency warfare.
"The military has been up against lightly armed insurgent forces, rather than conventional state-on-state warfare.
"This very different form of war has introduced logistics systems, training, exercises, equipment, and priorities quite different from those required to respond to a Russian threat."
He said Russia's continued provocation -- including several 'dummy-run' trips into British territory -- means it is “foolhardy to rule out Russia as a threat to global piece and stability”.
Russian forays in Georgia, Ukraine and now Syria have proved this, Dr Foxall continued.
"Russia’s Air Force bombers are frequently intercepted by RAF jets in close proximity of UK airspace.
"Russia’s warships often sail near British waters.
"And Russia’s submarines have attempted to record the ‘acoustic signature’ made by the Vanguard submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles."
Dr Foxall also repeated the chilling case of a Russian bomber flying to within just 20 miles of the English coast in a rehearsal of a nuclear attack.
"More alarmingly, in 2008, a Russian Tu-160 “Blackjack” bomber carried out a dummy nuclear attack on northern England", he said.
"Flying towards Hull, the bomber came within 20 miles of British airspace before turning away.
"While the chances of war between Russia and the UK seem rather low, it remains a possibility Russia will prepare for it – and Moscow has been doing so for some time."
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