RAF chief warns Russia ‘poses a direct threat to Britain’ if Putin loses war | British News
One of Britain’s top commanders has issued a strong warning of the consequences of Vladimir Putin’s loss of the war in Ukraine.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said Russia would be “vindictive and brutal” if defeated and posed a threat to Britain.
The RAF’s senior officer has warned that the Russian air force, surface navy and submarine forces pose a direct threat to Britain and NATO and that “we need to focus on that”.
He told The Telegraph: “When the Ukraine conflict is over and Ukraine has restored its borders, as it must be, we will have a damaged, vengeful and brutal Russia, whose means of harming us, airstrikes, missile attacks and underground Attacks are.’ .’
Sir Mike also warned that the threat to Russia will not diminish – and could potentially get worse – if Putin is ousted as the country’s president.
The 55-year-old made the comments in his final interview as chief of the air staff before stepping down next month after four years in the role.
Russia has repeatedly threatened the UK and other Western countries for supporting Ukraine and supplying weapons to ward off the invasion.
As leaders met at the G7 summit in Japan last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushho said countries supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets are taking “colossal risks”.
He told the Russian state news agency mug: “We see that Western countries continue to cling to an escalation scenario that poses enormous risks for them.”
“We will definitely take it into account in the planning.” “We have all the necessary resources to achieve our goals.”
Earlier this month, Russia vowed to launch an “appropriate response” to the UK after it supplied Ukraine with storm shadow missiles.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russia is extremely opposed to the delivery of British long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Kiev. An appropriate response will be required.”
The Kremlin issued a threat to the UK back in March, saying there were “fewer steps to a nuclear strike”.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the time: “Another step has been taken and there are fewer and fewer left.” “Of course Russia has an answer to that.”
When asked if that meant the world was closer to a nuclear collision, Shoigu replied, ‘It wasn’t by chance that I told you about the steps.’ It’s getting fewer and fewer.’
G7 leaders agreed last week to tighten sanctions on Russia and said they had ensured Ukraine got the budgetary support it needs this year and into early 2024.
A joint statement said: “Today we are taking new steps to ensure Russia’s illegal aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine fails and to support the Ukrainian people in their quest for a just peace grounded in respect for international law .”
Contact our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, Check out our news page.