British Army not prepared to respond to war with Russia, warns ex-Trump adviser
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The British Army is falling short of the resources needed to face a possible threat from Russia, Donald Trump’s former adviser on Ukraine has warned, as he highlighted Vladimir Putin’s military expansion plans
Kurt Volker, who advised the former president from 2017 to 2019, said Putin was building an army of 1.5 million – many more than needed for just the conflict in Ukraine.
Mr Volker told The Telegraph this suggested Putin could be looking to attack Nato countries too, and warned that this threat demanded much more in arms spending from the UK and other allies.
He added that he was “sorry to say” there were gaps in Britain’s level of preparedness if Nato were to be drawn into a conflict with Russia.
“The British Army, the British military is very high quality. The quality of officers, the quality of know-how, the quality of equipment is first class,” he said.
“But the scale is missing, the UK has under-invested in military capability for a long time and as a result they can’t produce the quantity of quality capability that Britain could provide. So that’s the issue for Britain.”
Though Rishi Sunak has vowed to increase defence funding to 2.5 per cent of GDP, British MPs have warned that years of spending cuts have left the Army poorly prepared for a “high-intensity war”.
The Telegraph reported in February that some Royal Navy destroyers have had gyms fitted where missiles should be because of a lack of funds.
Mr Volker, a seasoned US diplomat who also served as the US ambassador to Nato under George W Bush, is now a critic of Mr Trump, having resigned in the wake of the former president’s attempt to lobby Kyiv into investigating Joe Biden and other Democrats.
Prior to that, he worked as a CIA analyst and as a foreign services officer on postings in London and Brussels.
Putin is funding ‘strategic issues’
Mr Volker warned that Putin had massively ramped up military spending, which appeared to suggest he had long-term military goals which went beyond the invasion of Ukraine.
“We have Vladimir Putin committing 40 per cent of his national budget to defence right now. Mostly of course that’s about attacking Ukraine but a significant chunk is about strategic issues. We just had the intelligence this week of Russia producing nuclear-powered spacecraft and maybe a nuclear weapon in space.
“We have Russia planning to produce a 1.5 million-man army, that’s bigger than they need for Ukraine. So Russia is working on this on strategic terms and putting in the money. All of us, and I don’t exclude the United States from this, we need to do all of this at the same time.”
Nato leaders in Europe have been spooked by Mr Trump’s recent claim that he would encourage Putin to attack Nato member states that do not meet the alliance’s spending commitments.
Mr Volker said that was largely tough talk linked to the US election campaign, but described the remarks as “unacceptable” for a US presidential candidate who would play a crucial role in Nato defence.
“It was all about him showing himself as a tough guy. That’s what the point was but the way he went about it is to espouse a position. That is unacceptable,” he said.