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: “I think some of the comments that it’s not good or that someone will definitely kill him or take him out, I think it’s wishful thinking. “As military professionals we see a relatively stable regime in Russia, President Putin has been able to suppress any opposition, we see a hierarchy that is invested in President Putin and so no one at the top has an incentive to challenge President Putin, and that’s bleak.” He said the “Russia challenge will endure” potentially for “decades in terms of Russia as a threat” and the next prime minister should be aware that Russia is “the biggest threat” to the UK. He added: “So the biggest threat is Russia, and that’s Russia in all its guises when you look at it militarily. “Its ground forces are probably less of a threat in the short term because of that degradation, that depletion that we’re seeing with their fight in Ukraine. “But Russia continues to be a nuclear power, it has cyber capabilities, it has space capabilities, and it has specific underwater programs to be able to threaten the undersea cables that allow the world’s information to travel across the globe.” . On what Britain’s armed forces would look like if defense spending rose to 3% of GDP, he said: “I think it would be even more modern and even more punchy and have even more impact around the world, and that is clearly an option for the government.” Reflecting on a recent visit to Kyiv, he said Ukraine’s military “absolutely” believed it would win the war. He added: “They plan to restore their entire territory in terms of Ukraine and they see a struggling Russia, a Russia that we estimate has lost more than 30% of its ground combat effectiveness. We will always give them a brief on the current situation so they know where we have our armed forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin on how he will brief the next prime minister “That actually means 50,000 Russian soldiers either killed or injured in this conflict, almost 1,700 Russian tanks destroyed, almost 4,000 Russian-owned armored fighting vehicles destroyed. On how he would brief the next Prime Minister, he added: “We will always give them an update on the current situation so they know where our armed forces are. “It’s dominated by Ukraine and the support we provide to Ukraine, but we also try to step back and give a broader threat picture. “And then we have to remind the Prime Minister of the extraordinary responsibility they have with the UK as a nuclear power, and that is part of the initiative for a new British prime minister.”
