*LONDON – Russia “indisputably” now poses a bigger threat to Britain’ssecurity than terrorist groups like Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda, thehead of the British army said in an interview published Saturday.*
General Mark Carleton-Smith warned Moscow had shown a willingness to useits military to pursue its national interests while seeking to “exploitWestern vulnerabilities”.
“Russia today indisputably represents a far greater threat to our nationalsecurity than extremist threats such as Al-Qaeda and (IS),” he told TheDaily Telegraph.
“Russia has embarked on a systematic effort to explore and exploit Westernvulnerabilities, particularly in some of the non-traditional areas ofcyber, space, undersea warfare.”
Relations between Russia and Britain have sunk to historic lows this year.
London has blamed the country’s military intelligence service fororchestrating the poisoning with a nerve agent of ex-Russian spy SergeiSkripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury in March.
The incident prompted a wave of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions betweenMoscow and the West, as well as a ratcheting up of US sanctions.
Carleton-Smith, 54, said following IS battlefield loses in Syria and Iraq,the Western alliance must switch focus to the threat posed by Russia – anddo so through NATO.
“We cannot be complacent about the threat Russia poses or leave ituncontested.
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“The most important conventional military response to Russia is thecontinued capabilities and coherence of the NATO alliance,” he said.
The former special forces commander was speaking in his first interviewsince becoming Britain’s chief of the general staff in June.
He made the comments after visiting British troops deployed in Estonia aspart of a NATO battle group intended to deter aggression from neighbouringRussia.
Carleton-Smith also took the opportunity to downplay the need for aseparate European army, as recently encouraged by French President EmmanuelMacron.
“I would not support any initiative that diluted the military effectivenessof NATO,” he said.
“NATO represents the fundamental gravity of European security.
“It has been an extraordinarily successful alliance and, in my experience,we should reinforce success.” – APP/AFP
