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General Mark Carleton-Smith (pictured), the new chief of the General Staff, said that Britain and its allies could not be indifferent to the Russian threat.
According to the new head of the army, Russia represents a more serious threat to British security than Islamist extremist organizations such as the Islamic State and al Qaeda.
General Mark Carleton-Smith, the new chief of the General Staff, said that Britain and its allies could not be indifferent to the Russian threat, especially after the attack on Salisbury Novichok at the beginning of the year.
He said Russia was seeking to exploit the vulnerabilities of the West in unconventional war zones.
Speaking for the first time since his appointment, he told the Daily Telegraph: "Russia undeniably represents today a far greater threat to our national security than the Islamic extremist threats such as 'Al'. Qaeda and Isil.
"Russia has shown that it is ready to use military force to defend and develop its own national interests. Russians seek to exploit vulnerability and weakness wherever they detect it. & # 39;
General Carleton-Smith, 54, said Russia was seeking to exploit Western weaknesses with sophisticated combat tactics, such as cyberspace, space or submarine warfare. .
"Russia has embarked on a systematic effort to explore and exploit Western vulnerabilities, particularly in some non-traditional areas of cybercrime, space and submarine warfare," she said. -he declares.
"We can not be content with the threat of Russia or leave it uncontested. The most important conventional military response to Russia lies in maintaining the capabilities and coherence of the NATO alliance. He spoke after visiting British troops based in Estonia to dissuade the Russian aggression against the Baltic states.
General Carleton-Smith said that with the destruction of the Islamic State's territories in Iraq and Syria and the losses suffered by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the threat to British security had changed.
The new army chief warned of the Russian threat in a year that saw an alleged Kremlin-sponsored attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal (pictured) in Salisbury
He said: "The physical manifestation of the Islamist threat has diminished with the complete destruction of the geography of the so-called caliphate".
The father of two married children began his military career in 1982 with an operational service in Northern Ireland and the first Gulf War before becoming active in the special elite air service (SAS) in Bosnia.
He received an MBE for service in Kosovo before becoming SAS Commander in 2002.
He commanded a brigade in Afghanistan and, from 2012 to 2015, was Director of Special Forces and Deputy Chief of the Defense Staff.
