Russia keeps me up at night
After Navy’s Black Sea clash, UK’s forces chief admits...
THE head of the UK’s Armed Forces says he is ‘kept awake at night’ by incidents such as this week’s clash in the Black Sea.
As Russia continued its harassment of a British warship, General Sir Nick Carter said the confrontation was an example of where incidents could escalate through ‘miscalculation’.
The Chief of the Defence Staff told an audience at the Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival that the character of warfare and politics had fundamentally changed over the past 15 to 25 years.
He said: ‘That is because of the pervasiveness of information. Information is everywhere now and of course control of data and the ability to analyse it is at the heart of most of our professions, particularly the military profession.
‘The distinctions that used to exist between peace and war, between state and non- state, between virtual and reality, and between foreign and domestic policy have disappeared.’
That has ‘opened up possibilities for those who would wish to make mischief’ and to exploit the scenes between the blurred areas.
‘That’s what we’re dealing with on a daily basis and everything nowadays is about the battle of the narratives,’ Sir Nick said. ‘That was brought vividly to life, I would suggest, by the incident in the Black Sea which is causing great excitement at the moment – that is classically an example of a battle of the narratives. And the jury’s out as to who won that battle.’
He added: ‘The thing that keeps me awake in bed at night is a miscalculation that comes from unwarranted escalation. The sort of thing we saw in the Black Sea on is the sort of thing it could come from.’
Sir Nick’s comments came as HMS Defender was harassed for a third day following a dramatic incident in disputed waters off Crimea on Wednesday when a Russian patrol vessel fired a 30mm cannon towards the British ship.
The Navy destroyer was tailed by a frigate yesterday as Russia announced military exercises within striking distance of British bases in Cyprus. HMS Defender will refuel at Batumi, Georgia, this morning before rejoining the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in the eastern Mediterranean. Russia said it was sending supersonic jets to an airbase in Syria just 50 miles from British military bases in Cyprus.
Its defence ministry said: ‘The Russian military exercise in the Mediterranean began against the backdrop of a visit by a British carrier strike group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth. One of the objectives of the exercises will be to monitor the actions of the group.’