Russia is a threat to the UK and our sons and daughters must be ready to fight, armed forces chief warns
Chief of defence staff Richard Knighton warned the situation is ‘more dangerous than I have known during my career’
Russia is a growing threat to the UK and the nation’s “sons and daughters” must be ready to fight in the event of an attack, the head of the British armed forces has warned.
Making the case for a society-wide approach to “defence and deterrence”, chief of defence staff Sir Richard Knighton said the situation is “more dangerous than I have known during my career”.
He called on “people who are not soldiers, sailors or aviators to nevertheless invest their skills – and money” on building up national resilience.
Sir Richard said: “Sons and daughters. Colleagues. Veterans. …will all have a role to play. To build. To serve. And if necessary, to fight. And more families will know what sacrifice for our nation means.
“That is why it’s so important we do explain the changing threat and the need to stay ahead of it.”
It comes as the new head of MI6 warned that Britain is already on the front line against Russia and the UK is facing an “age of uncertainty” as the rules of conflict are being rewritten by hostile actors.
In her first public speech taking up the role, Blaise Metreweli addressed the acute threat posed by an “aggressive, expansionist and revisionist” Russia.
During his speech at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) on Monday, Sir Richard said: “Our armed forces always need to be ready to fight and win – that’s why readiness is such a priority.
“But deterrence is also about our resilience to these threats, it’s about how we harness all our national power, from universities, to industry, the rail network to the NHS.
“It’s about our defence and resilience being a higher national priority for all of us. An ‘all-in’ mentality.
“And that will require people who are not soldiers, sailors or aviators to nevertheless invest their skills – and money – in innovation and problem solving on the nation’s behalf.”
Sir Richard warned that Russian leadership has made clear its wish to “challenge, limit, divide and ultimately destroy Nato”.
Discussing the threats faced by Britain, he said: “The situation is more dangerous than I have known during my career and the response requires more than simply strengthening our armed forces.
“A new era for defence doesn’t just mean our military and government stepping up – as we are – it means our whole nation stepping up.”
He announced £50m for new defence technical excellence colleges, which provide short courses aimed at ensuring training can be accessed for new and existing staff in the defence sector more quickly.
On defence spending, Sir Richard said: “I find myself in a position that none of my predecessors during my career have faced, looking at the prospect of the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.
“And that is because the price of peace is increasing.”
Meanwhile, speaking from inside MI6 headquarters in Vauxhall, London, Ms Metreweli said: “Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring. The pressure we apply on Ukraine’s behalf will be sustained.
“The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in the Russian approach to international engagement; and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus.”
She also argued that the “front line is everywhere” as a result of the Kremlin’s use of hybrid warfare tactics, including disinformation, sabotage and cyber attacks.
It comes after the head of the Royal Navy warned earlier this month Britain must “step up” on defence or risk losing its advantage in the Atlantic, as Russia continues to spend billions on its capabilities at sea.
In a speech in London, First Sea Lord General Sir Gwyn Jenkins said there was “no room for complacency” while Moscow invests heavily in its northern fleet.
Sir Gwyn said there had been a spike in “Russian incursion in our waters” – activity which is most visibly seen in the presence of spy ships like the Yantar near UK waters – but warned: “It’s what’s going on under the waves that most concerns me.”
The government announced earlier this year that UK defence and security spending would rise to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 at the latest.
Last week, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte warned Europe was “Russia’s next target” and said countries should prepare for a “scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured”.