Head of the British Army: the "much bigger threat of Russia than the IS"

Russia now represents a "much bigger threat" to the UK's national security than the group of Islamic states, said the British army chief.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, General Mark Carleton-Smith said that Britain "can not be complacent about the threat posed by Russia."

"Russians seek to exploit vulnerability and weakness whenever they detect it," he said.

The United Kingdom accuses Russia of poisoning Salisbury and several cyber attacks.

In March, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal – who sold secrets to MI6 – and his daughter Yulia survived after being poisoned by Novichok.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, was subsequently exposed to the same neurotoxic agent and died at the hospital.

And in October, the British government accused the Russian military intelligence service GRU of being responsible for four high-profile cyber-attacks targeting the US Democratic Party and a small British television network.

Russia denies any involvement in the Skripal poisoning and has labeled the accusations of cyberattacks as "fantasy".

In his first interview since his appointment as chief of staff in June, General Carleton-Smith said that Russia was "indisputably" a greater threat than Islamic terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and IS. .

"Russia has made a systematic effort to explore and exploit Western vulnerabilities, particularly in some non-traditional areas of cybercrime, space and underwater warfare," he said.

"We can not be content with the threat of Russia or leave it uncontested".

The former commander SAS, 54, graduated from the Sandhurst Military Academy during the last years of the Cold War.

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, he led the search for Osama bin Laden and played a leading role in the role played by Britain in the campaign against ISIS. in Iraq and Syria.

Russia has already condemned Russia for its annexation of Crimea and its role in the conflict in Ukraine.

Moscow has also been accused of interfering in the 2016 US presidential election – which President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials have repeatedly denied.

Mr Putin also refutes the United Kingdom's allegations that the two suspects of Skripal intoxication were GRU agents.

Russia accused the British authorities of Russophobia, misleading the international community and British citizens and "disgusting anti-Russian hysteria".

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