Putin speech refresh ‘Cold Sees NATO War’ project
COLD War plans prepared in case of an attack by the Soviet Union are being “refreshed” in light of growing tensions with Russia, it was revealed yesterday.
Sources referred to an “infelicitous trajectory” following Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day speech last week, putting Britain and its Nato allies on alert.
Exercises involving a response by thewest to an attack on a European country were regularly trialled during the 1980s but fell out of practice after the fall of the Berlinwall.
Now military chiefs and senior civil servants have begun to analyse how much of the original idea could be incorporated into a revised plan, called The Book, to deal with a Russian incursion into Poland.
Last night Gen Sir Richard Barrons, former head of Joint Forces Command, said: “It is a very good idea that these Cold War exercises are properly resurrected, even though their simulated elements may give a misleading impression as to how seamlessly things can be achieved.
“But it is absolutely no good if other government departments don’t take part.”
A senior Whitehall source said: “Despite what the defence secretary says, we are not yet on a war footing in any meaningful sense of the term. But certainly there is a growing realisation that Russia has adopted an infelicitous trajectory for which we must be prepared.”
Justin Crump, of Sibylline strategic risk group, said: “For 35 years, Nato has ignored the real possibility of war with Russia in favour of mission specific operations.
“We had a framework, we had a concept of how to deploy troops, but we did not plan for war. Now
the time for political posturing is over.”
Though specific details are classified, the UK would look to increase the number of its Chinook helicopters permanently on standby at RAF Odiham, in Hampshire. They would be used to move important dignitaries, including members of the Royal Family, from London to safe houses across the country.
Attempts are also being made to ensure all relevant government departments co-operate, following complaints from former Armed Forces minister James Heappey last month that ministries were ignoring exercises.
His criticism concerned a specially convened “whole of government” exercise to practise evacuating to a bunker in the event of war.
The £126million underground Pindar Defence Crisis Management Centre is located five stories underground, below the main
Ministry of Defence building in Whitehall.
It can house 400 personnel and provides protection against conventional bombing, biological and chemical attack, flooding, and the effects of a nuclear bomb blast and radiation.
The exercise was intended “to get people down to the bunker so they could see what their working environment in war would be”, Mr Heappey revealed, but “in the end, rather depressingly, it was just defence ministers, senior military officers and MOD officials that participated”.
Last week, Putin declared: “We will not allow anyone to threaten us”. He added that Russia’s strategic forces are “always in a state of combat readiness”.
A Government spokesman said: “We regularly review and refresh all our plans to counter threats to the UK.”