Russia an increasing threat to security, says RAF chief

RUSSIA is becoming “increasingly assertive” as a threat facing Britain, the head of the RAF has warned.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier said there is a “spectrum” of threats to the UK as he was questioned on what the biggest security issues facing the country are.

He declared that Russia was one of the main problems because it is “challenging international norms” and “putting pressure” on us.

ACM Hillier, speaking about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), said the RAF was committed to the effort in countering the jihadists but added: “If I look at the other end of the spectrum, there are the state-based threats, and Russia is becoming increasingly assertive, challenging international norms, putting pressure on us.”

There can be no let-up in the campaign against Isil, ACM Hillier added, to stop them bouncing back after the terror group lost 98 per cent of the territory it once held.

RAF jets alongside Reaper drones have carried out more than 1,700 strikes, as well as surveillance and reconnaissance missions since efforts to eradicate the group began.

“The key thing here is, as we have discovered in previous conflicts, is that if we let up, then they will come bouncing back, and we will have to re-engage,” he said.

“We will have to keep going with this one until the job is done. When people say to me ‘when is that going to be?’ Well, when it is done.”

In 2014, the group blitzed across vast swathes of Syria – seizing Raqqa – before spreading into north and western Iraq, capturing Mosul and even advancing to the edges of Baghdad.

Since then, the Us-led 74-member global coalition has worked to destroy the extremists – seeing Mosul liberated in July and Raqqa in October as result of the efforts. ACM Hillier revealed that even though the spread of the group has been “stopped and rolled back”, the jihadists could “morph into something different”.