{"id":277476,"date":"2025-07-20T13:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T13:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277476\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T13:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T13:39:18","slug":"britain-is-sleepwalking-into-a-war-with-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277476\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain Is ‘Sleepwalking’ into a War with Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Key Points and Summary\u00a0 \u2013<\/strong> The former head of the British Army, Gen. Sir Patrick Sanders, has issued a stark warning that the United Kingdom must prepare for a potential war with Russia within the next five years.\n<\/p>\n

-In a sobering interview, Sanders argued that the UK is \u201cpublic enemy number one\u201d for the Kremlin due to its leadership in supporting Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n

-He criticized the government for failing to invest in essential civil defenses like bomb shelters and called for a significant increase in the size of the army, which he deems \u201ctoo small to survive\u201d a high-intensity conflict.\n<\/p>\n

Russia is Coming for NATO and the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n

LONDON, UK \u2013 In a recent interview<\/a> with The Telegraph, British Gen. Sir Patrick Sanders, who stood down as chief of the General Staff last summer, had a number of sobering predictions about Russia\u2019s military threat<\/a> to Britain.<\/p>\n

He made several recommendations for what the United Kingdom should do now if it hopes to be ready for future challenges from Moscow.\n<\/p>\n

Sanders said the UK needs to start by accepting that war with Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s forces by 2030 is a realistic possibility<\/a> \u2013 London therefore must prepare for hostilities with Russia<\/a> within five years. Necessary first steps include building bunkers and investing in air defenses, the former Army head warned.\n<\/p>\n

He explained that during his time as the head of the British Army, he had engaged in unsuccessful conversations with the government about building bomb shelters for civilians and underground command centers for the military to use in the event of an attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always came down to a conversation of it being too costly and not a high enough priority and the threat didn\u2019t feel sufficiently imminent or serious to make it worth it,\u201d Sanders recalled.\n<\/p>\n

His statements are some of the most direct to date regarding the threat the UK faces from Moscow. Sanders added that he did not know how many more \u201csignals\u201d the British government requires to realize that \u201cif we don\u2019t act now and we don\u2019t act in the next five years to increase our resilience \u2026 I don\u2019t know what more is needed.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Russia is Coming By 2030 \u2013 But We Are Not Prepared<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf Russia stops fighting in Ukraine, you get to a position where within a matter of months they will have the capability to conduct a limited attack on a NATO member that we will be responsible for supporting, and that happens by 2030,\u201d Sanders said in the same interview.\n<\/p>\n

The former army chief added that funding for the UK\u2019s air defenses<\/a> is \u201cmuch lower\u201d than it should be and urged the government to direct more resources into this area. He said he did not believe the United Kingdom needs an air defense system<\/a> such as Israel\u2019s Iron Dome. But he did say \u201csimilar protection\u201d against threats, and shielding civilians from \u201cthe enemy\u2019s drones\u201d should be part of the military\u2019s \u201cnext big evolution.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

New funding should be directed to buttressing backup systems, so that the country can still function if critical infrastructure such as gas storage, power generation, and data centers is destroyed by an adversary.\n<\/p>\n

The former rifleman\u2019s criticisms of what he saw as multiple shortcomings in defense planning brought Sanders into disagreement with the government too often.<\/p>\n

In particular, he was deemed as being too outspoken on troop cuts<\/a>, and he continues to assert that reducing the size of the Army is the wrong move, especially now.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the moment, the British Army is too small to survive more than the first few months of an intensive engagement, and we\u2019re going to need more,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

Why Training Really Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised at the start of this year to put boots on the ground in Ukraine<\/a> as part of a coalition to oversee an eventual ceasefire<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Sanders favors such a move, but says it should be happening now.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been at the leading edge of this, but we can\u2019t take our eye off it, and we probably need to do more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncidentally, I think the Coalition of the Willing is something that gets deployed after there has been some framework or ceasefire. Well, I\u2019d say we should be there now, training. We should be in western Ukraine, helping the Ukrainians with their training and their equipment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He also had some sobering comments regarding training<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we train Ukrainian soldiers, they go into the field with five weeks of training. Now that is more than the Russian soldiers receive. But consider that when the troops hit the beach on D-Day in June 1944 every soldier had at least 22 weeks of training under their belts.\u201d Given the complexities of today\u2019s weapons systems, five weeks of training is not nearly enough, in Sanders\u2019 estimation as well as others.\n<\/p>\n

When asked by The Telegraph which country was next on Putin\u2019s hit list, he said: \u201cI think we are close to being public enemy number one, because it was the UK that really galvanized the international community\u2019s response in the early days of the Ukraine war.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud that actually our political leaders and the government drew a line and said, \u2018No, this is unacceptable.\u2019 There\u2019s a long history of mistrust and animosity between the UK and Russia.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not the most powerful opponent that they would say they face, but because we are good at setting an example, because we\u2019re good at galvanizing international opinion, because we are good at diplomacy, we\u2019re good at convening, then we punch well above our weight on issues like this and it\u2019s right that we do.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reuben F. Johnson<\/a> has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation<\/a>.\u00a0 He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from DePauw University and a master\u2019s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.\n<\/p>\n

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