Defence Secretary John Healey has underscored the growing threat posed by Russia, describing it as “the most pressing and immediate threat to Britain.”
Addressing the House of Commons, he highlighted the challenges stemming from Russian aggression, despite the Kremlin’s weakened global position.
Mr Healey characterised Russia as both dangerous and vulnerable, saying: “Russia is dangerous, but fundamentally weak.” He detailed the toll the war in Ukraine has taken on Russia’s military and international standing: “In Ukraine, it has suffered devastatingly high rates of casualties over three years in a war that it thought it would win in a week.”
The Defence Secretary pointed to further evidence of Russia’s struggles, noting: “Compounding the humiliation, Putin has been forced to turn to North Korea to reinforce its front-line fighters.”
A Strategic Defeat in Syria
Mr Healey also addressed Russia’s diminishing influence in other regions. Referring to recent developments in the Middle East, he stated: “The strategic defeat in Syria has exposed its diminishing power on the global stage.”
This loss, coupled with significant economic challenges at home, paints a picture of a country grappling with internal and external pressures. He elaborated: “At home, the Russian economy faces crippling strains.”
A Persistent Threat
Despite these setbacks, the Defence Secretary emphasised that Russia remains a significant and immediate danger. “Nevertheless, Mr Speaker, Russia remains the most pressing and immediate threat to Britain,” he warned.
The UK’s response to this threat includes ramping up defence spending, strengthening alliances, and targeting Russia’s economic and military capabilities. Mr Healey reiterated the government’s commitment to national security: “We will protect the homeland and our critical national infrastructure. And we will make Britain secure at home and strong abroad.”
The Defence Secretary’s statement reflects the UK’s determination to counter Russian aggression, both directly and through support for Ukraine. As Mr Healey stated earlier, “Russian aggression will not be tolerated, at home or in Ukraine.”
Something vulnerable is not dangerous, stop scaring people with nonsense, Russia is incapable of advancing more than one metre a day in Ukraine, on the other hand if it is so dangerous for Great Britain why don’t they stop dismantling the Armed Forces, it is all so ridiculous and dystopian.
Actually where nations feel weak and vulnerable can bizarrely be the time that traditional deterrence does not work…a strong secure nation will look at a deterrent and essentially risk assess triggering, but not be worried…Russia on the other hand is suffering through weakness and that does make it dangerous..because any peer war is essentially catastrophic even if your going to win….weak nations and alliances often attack stronger nations and alliances…just look at the central powers…they attacked a stronger alliance because of their own perception of weakness..same with imperial japan facing the US…never ever assume a weaker nation will not attack a stronger nation if it feels it has no other choice.
Let’s do something about it then, let’s not delay the SDR, ensure our armed forces spend money better and have good procurement, give the Army, Navy and Airforces the money and resources to fight it let’s not cut cut cut if we have a threat we should be dealing with it properly
And also let’s get some good homeland defences and increase defence spending I mean the benefits bill is much higher or the same as the defence budget
Couldn’t agree more has I posted yesterday on a article , Trump has said NATO members should be paying 5% on defence .And we’ve got Starmer thinking it’s a big deal going from 2.3% -2.5% .Love to see Starmers face when heard of this news 🤗
Then pay 3.5% from tomorrow for increases in the capacity of the forces.
Simples. No more cobblers with empty words.
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A strong defence is cheaper many times cheaper than a war. If it takes an increase in taxes, then do it!!!
Even if you commited to 3.5% it would take years to get there. Amazon doesn’t have a defence section deliverable Monday. It takes time to recruit, the steel for additional T26 won’t be cut in under 4 to 6 years. New tanks. New typhoons . What the defence industry needs is certainty to plan.
A peer war costs you around a third of your GDP and will destroy your economy for a generation…and that’s if you win.
It’s quite striking to consider the numbers of aircraft, ships and equipment that have been scrapped, capability gapped or sold on since the Salisbury Novichok attack alone. It’s taken a long time for them to smell the coffee.
Lucky the Sov’s are still tied up failing to conquer Ukraine. Which they shouldn’t be as Trump said he’d end it on day one of his term. All he’s done so far is make a social media post threatening to put taxes and tariffs on imports from Russia. Given that the US imports practically nothing from Russia since they invaded Ukraine, that’s not likely to make a lot of difference. Russia is already the most sanctioned country in the world, and that hasn’t stopped them.
Us and the rest of Europe need to get properly and well armed and be ready to deter Putin and his psychotic mates from trying anything else. And we need to step up arming Ukraine with mountains and mountains of drones.