London. November 27. INTERFAX - Currently, the main threat to the UK's security comes from Russia, according to the Chief of the British Defense Staff Nicholas Carter.
In an interview with The Telegraph, he stressed: "Russia is the most acute threat, and its management is the first place on my list. This is on the list of priorities of the National Security Adviser."
Carter noted that "we are going through a period of phenomenal change." In particular, he recalls that back in 2014, "we argued about whether the threat came from violent extremism or whether it was a state threat from Russia. At this stage, the argument about violent extremism has almost won."
"But then, in 2018, we had an attack on the Skripal family in Salisbury, and it became blindingly obvious that Russia was the most acute threat to our country," Carter believes.
The publication writes that Russia and China have replaced Islamic terrorism as the main threats to national security. This change had to take into account the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare.
"The way threats appear today is not so much an ordinary threat; rather, it is what I call activity in the gray zone, where opponents see the world as a continuous struggle in which all the tools of power can be used until they lead to a hot war," Carter said.
The main concern of the military commander is that "Russia's constant participation in provocative actions can lead to a catastrophic mistake that can easily lead to conflict," the newspaper writes.
In this regard, he warned that "miscalculation is an unpleasant possibility, and we must monitor it so that it does not get out of control."
According to him, it is necessary to find out whether the British policy of deterrence does not encourage Russia to act, this is a "big question."