Speculation about Putins assassination wishful thinking, military chief says – The Independent

Britains armed forces chief has dismissed speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not well or could be assassinated as wishful thinking.

The UK Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin was asked if President Putin, who launched an invasion of Ukraine in February, could be toppled or face regime change.

But he told Sophie Raworth on BBC Ones Sunday Morning show: I think some of the comments that hes not well or that actually surely somebodys going to assassinate him or take him out, I think theyre wishful thinking.

As military professionals we see a relatively stable regime in Russia, President Putin has been able to quash any opposition, we see a hierarchy that is invested in President Putin and so nobody at the top has got the motivation to challenge President Putin, and that is bleak.

He said the challenge of Russia is going to endure potentially for decades in terms of Russia as a threat, and the next prime minister should know that Russia is the biggest threat to the UK.

He added: So the biggest threat is Russia, and thats Russia in all its guises when you look at it militarily.

Its land forces are probably less of a threat in the short term because of that degradation, that depletion that were seeing with their struggle in Ukraine.

But Russia continues to be a nuclear power, its got cyber capabilities, its got space capabilities, and its got particular programmes under water so it can threaten the underwater cables that allow the worlds information to transit around the whole globe.

On what Britains armed forces would look like if defence spending increased to 3% of GDP, he said: I think they would be even more modern and they would have even more punch and they would have even more impact around the world, and thats clearly a choice for government.

Reflecting on a recent visit to Kyiv, he said Ukraines army absolutely believed it will win the war.

He added: They plan to restore the whole of their territory in terms of Ukraine, and they see a Russia that is struggling, a Russia that we assess has lost more than 30% of its land combat effectiveness.

We will always give them a brief on the current situation so they are aware of where we have our armed forces

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin on how he will brief the next PM

What that actually means is 50,000 Russian soldiers that have either died or been injured in this conflict, nearly 1,700 Russian tanks destroyed, nearly 4,000 armoured fighting vehicles that belong to Russia destroyed.

On how he will brief the next Prime Minister, he added: We will always give them a brief on the current situation so they are aware of where we have our armed forces.

Thats dominated by Ukraine and the support that we are providing to Ukraine but we also try to step back and give a wider threat picture.

And then we have to remind the Prime Minister of the extraordinary responsibility they have with the UK as a nuclear power, and that is part of the initiation for a new British Prime Minister.

See the original post here:

Speculation about Putins assassination wishful thinking, military chief says - The Independent