Russia wants to cause UK harm – it’s time to take that seriously, ex-military chief warns

A former army chief has warned that Vladimir Putin is planning to harm Britain and that “it is time to get serious” about the threats Britain faces.

Former chief of defense staff Stuart Peach said Russia posed a “threat to our way of life” as concerns grew that Britain’s undersea cables, vital for internet access, financial transactions and the sharing of essential data, were vulnerable to sabotage.

But he warned that Britain was not prepared to deal with potential threats to the nation, such as widespread power outages and full-scale war.

He said: “The fact that Russia intends to harm us – whether it’s economic disruption, whether you call it ‘dark arts’ – I think the evidence is clear.”

His warning came in a joint interview Independent With Jean Coussins, chairman of the House of Lords National Resilience Committee.

The two colleagues, who are not politically aligned, underlined the need for a sense of “urgency” when it comes to Britain preparing for potential threats.

“When there is a national power outage, no running water, no gas to get to stores that are already out of food on the shelves, how many of us are prepared with enough bottled water, canned food, batteries and medicine to last a few weeks or longer? No Wi-Fi, no internet, no working ATMs?” Baroness Coussins asked.

He also warned that Britain was already under attack.

“It’s a ‘What if?’ not the question. “It’s a matter of ‘these things are happening right now,'” he said.

“We know that we are under cyber attack every day. We know that there are proxy attacks from Russia, Iran and similar countries.

“We know from the information MI5 has made public to us how many potential incidents of violence it has intervened in, detected and prevented.”

The head of GCHQ recently warned that Russia was “ruthlessly” targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust in the UK and Europe.

Other examples of crises facing Britain include the closure of Heathrow airport last year due to a substation fire, resulting in the cancellation of more than 1,300 flights. More than 270,000 passengers were stranded, while tens of thousands of households were without electricity.

Lord Peach warned that malicious attacks “could cause real damage”, noting that a politically motivated arson attack in Berlin at the beginning of January caused a widespread blackout, leaving 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses without electricity, including internet and heating.

The UK needs to implement last year’s Strategic Defense Review. and “we need to make it clear that we face risks and threats,” he said.

He added: “It’s time to get serious about resilience.”

In key cables to the UK, he said he had raised the issue as chief of the defense staff: “I’m glad I did it, because [of] threat to our way of life [which would be] “It was caused by the breakage of submarine cables.”

Lord Peach praised Sweden’s system of emergency advice booklets sent to homes and businesses to tell them what to do in the event of war or another type of crisis.

He said he thought the public and British businesses would welcome something similar setting out what residents should do in a national emergency.

“I think UK businesses will be willing, ready and able to absorb and consider this because we are – let’s be honest – very used to the global supply chain-driven, just-in-time logistics model and that is being challenged by events,” he said.

The committee is currently conducting a study of national resilience and will publish its recommendations later this year.

But Baroness Coussins said some of the written evidence they had already received “raises huge question marks” when it comes to the security of the food supply chain. [about that] … Largely because we import so much of our food.”

He added: “I think one of our goals is to make sure that we deliver the message about preparedness and resilience in a way that is reassuring, creates a sense of urgency, but is not fear-mongering.”

He added that the committee had heard evidence from some Scandinavian countries a few years ago that were concerned about frightening the public, “but they found that by being completely open and completely truthful about the nature of the threats the country might face, the public was not panicked – it was reassured”.