Daily Mail

Threat from Russia ‘will only get worse’

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THE threat from Russia is only going to get worse after the Salisbury poisoning, the captain of Britain’s biggest ever warship has warned.

Commanding Officer Capt Jerry Kyd said Moscow’s actions must be taken seriously by having credible armed forces that are ready to respond.

Speaking onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth, he said: ‘Novichok and Salisbury has yet again demonstrat­ed that you must maintain credible, balanced and ready forces.’ He said this must be maintained ‘across all three services, not least aircraft carriers at sea, to enable us to protect the security of our people’. Senior military officers added that with the new aircraft carrier and its jets, Russia – with its ‘limping’ ships – would be no match for Britain in a naval battle. Their comments come amid rising tensions between Britain and Russia after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK.

It emerged this week that one of the two suspects in the Salisbury poisoning is a highly-decorated officer in Russia’s military intelligen­ce service (GRU).

Capt Kyd warned that the threats facing the UK from Vladimir Putin must be taken seriously, as he warned against any future cuts. He said: ‘What we are seeing now is a resurgent Russia which is presenting a credible threat again to the western states and the rules-based system and that must be taken seriously.’

Asked if there was a naval battle between Britain and Russia who would win, Rear Admiral Keith Blount, assistant chief of the naval staff, said: ‘We would.’

And Air Vice Marshall Harvey Smyth, air officer commanding No 1 group, said Russia was no match for the UK when it came to aircraft carriers. It emerged earlier this year that Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic has increased tenfold in recent years. ‘Why i betrayed Putin’

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