The UK must acknowledge it is at war with Russia due to Vladimir Putin’s use of “grey zone” attacks including cyber strikes, assassinations and fake news, a former defence minister has said.
Writing for i, Tobias Ellwood said the response of Nato countries such as Britain to the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare has been “muted at best” and warned that “it may take a major cyber event to jolt the nation awake”.
Instead, Sir Keir Starmer should seek to deal with the situation by boosting defence spending and investing in education due to a “glaring shortage of cyber security expertise” in both the Government and business”, the ex-Conservative MP said.
It came after senior Cabinet minister Pat McFadden, who is responsible for national security, warned on Monday that Russia was increasingly targeting British media, telecoms and energy infrastructure and that Moscow could “turn off the lights for millions of people”.
MI5 chief Ken McCallum last month warned Putin was on admission to cause “sustained mayhem on British and European streets”, accusing Russian military…
