This may include adverts from us and 3 rd parties based on our understanding. Chief of the Defence Staff General Nicholas Carter also said that Russia's development of advanced and powerful weapons was concerning the UK. This, General Carter made clear, was forcing the UK Government and armed forces to be on guard to emerging threats from Moscow.
General Carter also said there was an era of consistent competition with authoritarian powers like Russia. The UK military chief said the Kremlin s advances in submarine technologies and deep underwater capabilities was a major security concern for Western allies. Addressing a US event, he also made clear the UK need to think hard about capability and deterrence in the North Atlantic, where operating conditions are difficult. He added: Here I would mention China, which poses a serious threat from our point of view, and Russia, which is a chronic systemic challenge for us.
There is no doubt that we should pursue a course of containment with Russia His comments come after a former British spy said he had evidence of Russian hostilities against Britain, including during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Christopher Steele spied in Russia in the 1990 s and is understood to have been one of Britain's most senior intelligence officers in Moscow as the Soviet Union collapsed. He was believed to be a senior intelligence officer for 25 years and also authored a dossier that alleged collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. READ MORE: SNP relies on 'Union' trade with UK compared to EU, data reveals.
The former US President has dismissed the Russian dossier as a hoax and denied collusion with Moscow, while the UK Government said they had no involvement in producing the dossier. Asked if he ever uncovered evidence of hostile operations against Britain, he told Sky News in a rare TV appearance: Yes He continued: Everything from corrupt leadership money being brought onshore and invested in strategic industries and the like, which is something of concern, to potential attempts to fund parts of the Brexit campaign and interference in that, the Scottish referendum, some evidence of interference in that as well. That I regard as hostile behaviour, and certainly we came across that from time to time.