The commander-in-chief of Britain’s armed forces has dismissed speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “unwell” or could be killed as “wishful thinking”.
UK Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin was asked whether President Putin, who launched an invasion of Ukraine in February, could be “toppled” or face “regime change”.
But he told Sophie Raworth on BBC One’s Sunday Morning Show: “I think some of the comments that he’s not well or that actually somebody is going to kill him or take him out, I think it’s self-delusion.
“As military professionals, we see a relatively stable regime in Russia, President Putin has been able to quell any opposition, we see a hierarchy that is embedded in President Putin, and so no one at the top has the motivation to challenge President Putin, and that’s bleak.”
He said the “Russia challenge will last” potentially “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 it’s Russia in all its forms when you look at it militarily.
“His ground forces are probably less of a threat in the short term because of this degradation, this depletion that we’re seeing with their struggle in Ukraine.
“But Russia continues to be a nuclear power, it has cyber capabilities, it has space capabilities, and it has special underwater programs, so it can threaten the submarine cables that allow the world’s information to transit around the globe.”
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