Russia poses a ‘direct threat’ to Britain and will be ‘vindictive’ if it loses the war in Ukraine, the outgoing head of the RAF has warned.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, 55, said Russia’s military was a threat to Britain and Moscow’s aggression would only get worse if Vladimir Putin was ousted.
It comes as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the West for creating ‘serious obstacles’ in Ukraine and the Kremlin confirmed it had moved tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.
Sir Mike said Russia would be ‘damaged’, ‘vindictive’ and ‘brutal’ with means of attacking Britain through ‘air attack, missile attack and subsurface attack’ once Ukraine has restored its borders.
His remarks are the first public acknowledgment from a Western military leader of the risk a humiliated Russia might pose to NATO countries after the war in Ukraine ends.
Sir Mike told the Daily Telegraph: ‘When the Ukraine conflict is over and Ukraine has restored its borders, as it must, we will have a damaged, vindictive and brutal Russia, whose means of harming us is through air attack, missile attack and subsurface attack.
‘There is a whole structure and a hierarchy behind Putin. So even if Putin was to disappear off the stage, there are countless others that could replace him that could be as equally as brutal and vicious to their own people and to neighbouring states.’
He added Russia would continue to be an ‘enduring threat’ to the UK and the Kremlin was prepared to wage a ‘brutal’ war in the name of Russian historical revisionism.
Sir Mike’s warning came after Russian missiles on Friday hit a medical clinic in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing at least two people, and as Russia blamed Kyiv for dozens of strikes on its southern Belgorod region.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the Ukraine conflict with China’s special envoy Li Hui, blaming Ukraine and Western countries for creating ‘serious obstacles’ to resuming peace talks.
In Belgorod in southern Russia, the governor said the Ukrainian military was responsible for dozens of artillery, mortar and drone attacks across the region but reported no casualties.
