Britain’s military boss has denied tensions with Russia will tip the globe into a new world war – because Putin knows he wouldn’t stand a chance against NATO.
Admiral Tony Radakin, who is the Chief of Defence Staff and the head of the UK’s armed forces, claimed the despot tyrant was fully aware NATO would crush him if he tried to launch an offensive.
‘We are not on the cusp of war with Russia. We are not about to be invaded,’ Adm Radakin told a panel of security experts at the annual Chatham House Security and Defence conference.
The senior defence chief insisted that despite the Kremlin’s savage war in Ukraine, which is entering its third year and has seen hundreds of thousands killed, that no officials in the UK were talking about conscription for ordinary Brits.
‘Britain is safe. We are safe because we are part of NATO, the world’s largest and strongest alliance and also because we are a responsible nuclear power,’ the admiral added.
Adm Radakin insisted NATO’s air forces – which outnumber Russia’s three to one – would ‘quickly establish air superiority’.
And the military alliance’s naval reserves would wipe out Russia’s fleet as effectively as Ukraine took them on in the Black Sea, it was claimed.
‘NATO has four times as many ships and three times as many submarines as Russia,’ the former head of the Royal Navy said, adding that Britain would sit at the heart of this mighty military response to any aggression in Europe.
But the top military chief’s comments seem to clash with fears raised by the head of the British Army, General Sir Patrick Saunders, who last month warned the UK’s military was ‘too small’.
In an alarming speech, General Sir Patrick, Chief of the General Staff, stressed the need for ministers to ‘mobilise the nation’ in a speech last month, amid the looming threat of full-scale global war.
It follows the shrinking of the British Army, which is now the smallest it has been since before the Napoleonic War.
Gen Sir Patrick felt there needed to be a ‘shift’ in the mindset of Britons who should be willing to defend the nation against foreign aggressors.
It’s believed that despite his concerns, the Army chief did not support conscription. However, he said that the public should be prepared for a call-up if NATO goes to war with Putin.
The warning following a dire message by a NATO chief, Admiral Rob Bauer, who called on the West to ‘prepare for an era of war’, adding that NATO ‘needs a warfighting transformation’.
During a summit between NATO defence leader in Brussels, the Dutch military boss warned: ‘We need to be readier across the whole spectrum.
‘You have to have a system in place to find more people if it comes to war, whether it does or not. Then you talk mobilisation, reservists or conscription.
‘We have to realise it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we [NATO forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia.’
Gen Sir Patrick said allies in Europe, who felt the threat of Russia ‘more acutely’ were already ‘laying the foundation of military mobilisation’.
‘We will not be immune and as the pre-war generation we must similarly prepare – and that is a whole-of-nation undertaking,’ he added.
‘Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them.
‘Our predecessors failed to perceive the implications of the so-called July Crisis in 1914 and stumbled into the most ghastly of wars. We cannot afford to make the same mistake today.’
But Adm Radakin today declared the the British military, and it’s people, were prepared for any situation – despite its ongoing manpower crisis and problems with its naval fleet, which has seen both its £3.5bn aircraft carriers suffering mechanical faults recently.
He said: ‘Time-and-again the British Armed Forces have stepped up to do our bit. And that’s without even considering our domestic roles.
‘These are dangerous and uncertain times. But Britain has what it needs to succeed. A G7 economy. An extensive science and technological base. Our island geography.
‘Our membership of the world’s strongest alliance. Our status as a nuclear power, and our seat in the UN Security Council.
‘Our task is to meld and align these strengths in a way that is faster and bolder than our competitors. That is how we will continue to stay safe. That is how we will win in the future.’
Benedetta Berti, head of policy planning for NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, said today: ‘NATO’s nuclear deterrent works,’ and promised that defence and deterrence is a top priority for the alliance going into 2024.
While David Quarrey, UK ambassador to NATO, agreed the power of the military alliance has effectively kept Putin from invading wider Europe.
Putin has lost more than 3,000 tanks since he launched his war in Ukraine. And defence estimates claim that more than 300,000 of his troops have been maimed or killed since the conflict began.
Ukraine has kept its losses a secret. However, some military analyst suggest their would have suffered similar losses,
