RUSSIA poses a threat to all European countries and is driving increases in defence spending, according to a former Royal Navy rear admiral.
Speaking to GB News, Chris Parry said: “We’re in a very unstable world. It’s been looking to be that way for some time.
“What has capitalised everything now is Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and obviously the implicit threat to all countries in Western Europe.
He said that calls for a bigger Army in response to Russian aggression may be too simplistic a response.
Mr Parry added: “Ukraine I think is probably one of the last of the 20th century wars rather than the first of the 21st century wars.
“The integrated [defence] review gives the UK a pretty positive and coherent strategy for the future. We should be careful about taking little bits out of it and taking lessons from Ukraine and saying ‘well, hey, we need a bigger army right now.
“Nobody really knows what we want a bigger army for – they just say that we want a bigger one.”
“Right now, the UK armed forces are reconfiguring both to face the challenges of the 21st century and to get that value for money which in the past has eluded them.
“The new Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, has been very sure about this and he’s setting about this with some considerable vigour.”
He made his comments during On The Point with Patrick Christys & Mercy Muroki on GB News.
Mr Parry said: “I’ve been saying for the best part of three years that Putin’s strategy…is to recreate New Russia under Catherine the Great and that basically means he wants the bottom third of Ukraine all the way from the Donbass through to Odessa.
“And two and a half weeks ago, he gave a speech in front of a statue of Catherine the Great saying these are my war aims in Ukraine.
“The war has been all about the south and with his forces, he’s tried to fix Ukrainian forces in the north and north-east and he’s been driving across the south and up from Crimea in support of that agenda.
“So I’m not at all surprised by what he’s saying. What I am surprised about is that anybody believes anything he says, because he and his regime have been consistently lying throughout this.
“You need to actually interpret his actions, not his words.”
