Putin made a ‘huge mistake’ with Ukraine and faces ‘more problems’ as war goes on | Ex-MI6 boss

Putin made a ‘huge mistake’ with Ukraine and faces ‘more problems’ as war goes on | Ex-MI6 boss

so the question is are labors plans to increase defense spending too slow that’s what former generals have been telling us here on times radio as K starma heads to the NATO Summit in Washington Times radio’s political editor Kate mccan is traveling with the Prime Minister speaking to K starma on the plane over here overnight he is clear that the hospital bombing in Ukraine has really set the tone for this Summit he said it strengthened the resolve of NATO allies and it’s a very important if tragic backdrop to this Summit that was him in his own words speaking to journalists on the plane and I think for K starma there is a real determination here to show that the UK is still absolutely steadfast United with Ukraine behind the ukrainians as they try and fend off that Russian aggression and K clear as well it’s not just aggression from Russia in terms of what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine but also cyber warfare so you know a clear signal that the UK is going to continue to be tough on Russia as we move through the next couple of years but there are still questions for the UK domestically including on defense spending Karma has committed to 2.5% of GDP being spent on defense although many many military figures have told times radio over the last 24 hours that that will not be enough he’s yet to give a timeline and he was pushed on that on the plane ride over here again didn’t commit to a timeline but said that he would review defense and Security in the UK and do that as quickly as possible hopefully within a year quicker than a year if he can I think which is is uh Karma showing that he understands the importance of that mission I think but in terms of who else is here from the UK the defense secretary John Healey the foreign secretary David Lamy and Nick Thomas Simmons who’s the minister for EU relations and that last name is an interesting one because it perhaps hints at a determination from the UK to forge closer ties with the EU on defense and security Nick Thomas Simmons’s being here says that some of those meetings are going to happen much quicker than they would have done maybe if he wasn’t here if he waited to try and do those meetings individually so perhaps an indication from the new government that the EU is going to be a really important part of defense and Security in the months and years ahead but again you know as ever with big UK trips that special relationship and that is what K sta referred to it as is going to be front and center here at the NATO Summit in Washington that’s Kate mccan who just landed in Washington DC uh Sir Richard dear is the former head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency we’re delighted to say he joins us now good morning to you Richard good morning STI uh there is a something of a cliche um that we are living in an Ever more dangerous world as the years go by how much do you subscribe to that I sub certainly subscribe to that as an analysis at the moment um we’ve lived through dangerous periods before but this probably is the worst during my Adult Career uh probably the worst during my life was the Cuba crisis when I was at school on the East Coast the United States and what’s the reason for that well it’s quite clear we have a major war on the European continent and I think people of my generation would not have imagined that that was possible um without it escalating into more serious European conflict and uh it’s not just that war on its own it’s the wider Dimensions like Chinese support for Russia the support of Iran the support of North Korea so we’re looking at a complex series of relationships which imply a much more serious security situation than we’ve seen in many many years have we failed has the West failed collectively to deal with the threat of Putin you know in terms of Ukraine it began in 2014 when he invaded Crimea obviously got more serious with the full Ukrainian invasion is that a failure to to circumscribe him in some way yeah I think the West closed its eyes to the escalation of the problem and you’ve got to remember that this war did start in 2014 and the West didn’t take a tough line with Putin at the time I think it could have been much more clearcut in the you know in in the pressure that it put on Russia uh it’s only after the February 22 invasion of Ukraine that I think the West suddenly wake up to the seriousness of the situation they’re dealing with and how that war has then been prosecuted how do you feel about that because at one level he is as strong as he’s ever been that feels like a a dangerous point on the other it has not escalated it has not led to World War III it has not led to a wider conflict in Europe is that luck or success or or how would you how would you account for that well I think NATO’s been very careful not to as it were make Russia’s war with Ukraine a direct conflict between NATO and Russia and I mean that’s NATO’s dilemma as it were to support Ukraine as much as possible in my view not enough not quickly enough so we’ve always been behind the curve since this conflict escalated with the direct Invasion we’ve put restraints on how the Ukraine ukrainians should use their weapons systems um we’ve we’ve supplied them grudgingly added to you know as the war has got more intense we’ve allowed a bit more a bit more a bit more I think the Dilemma now for NATO is it needs really to throw huge resources at this without getting into a direct conflict we with Russia are we scar I mean there’s an interesting point that isn’t it because the question how do you deter Vladimir Putin if he never believes there will be a full conflict which is I’m sure the correct DEC it’s a nuclear power after all we all know that the tremendous downsides of a direct conflict but if that’s always off the table the deterrent effect doesn’t exist I think it does because if NATO could concentrate its resources and coordinate its resources it massively outweighs Russia’s capabilities and it hasn’t really done that I mean if you take the German commitment I mean okay they’ve been a big supplier but they could be an even larger supplier the United States has delayed not put forward all the weapon systems now we get a new promise we need to be much more clear-cut in our objectives we need to be much more supportive of Ukraine I mean obviously the coordination can be done through NATO the relationships have to be conducted bilaterally it’s complex but you know there is an answer to squaring this circle and at the moment we’re just not quite doing that so we’re always falling slightly short and uh if you talk to the senior leadership of Ukrainian intelligence it’s quite clear that they see as part of their strategy a clear path to Nato membership that for them is an essential element as it were in winning this war well winning maybe too strong a phrase but coming out on top we cannot allow Putin to achieve his objectives and we can we have the means to sort of escalate the cost to Russia to a point where I think the burden on Russia becomes intolerable so that’s the outcome and because we often talk about what is the correct out outcome here the outcome here is what um Ukraine succeeding in the war effort because they’re so backed by the West that it becomes too much of a of a of a of a burden on Russia and they do what they come out of Crimea they come out of uh the donbas region they’re out of Ukrainian territory entirely is that a plausible I mean you know the Russian mentality you know the mentality of people who run Russia is that actually a plausible outcome that they would ever be willing to give up and withdraw I don’t think that Ukraine can recover all of its territory it can probably recover some of it uh C I mean I’m trying to be pragmatic uh but what we don’t want is a negotiation that ends this war where Russia is on the front foot yeah if it goes to negotiation Russia has to be on the back foot and seriously on the back foot and we’re nowhere near that but the cost to Russia in terms of armaments casualties is huge and of course the cost to the Russian economy is huge and Russia is in serious sort of post Imperial decline it hasn’t okay it it it has debth and it has quantity but it doesn’t have Limitless strength and you know Russia has lost wars in the past uh and we have to remember that historically and this war was a huge mistake the longer it goes on I think the more problems the Russian leadership will face amongst themselves in as it were continuing it but that depends on NATO really upping their game hugely in supplying and training the ukrainians and that might mean country is going to spending more on defense we having this debate about when to get to 2.5% I I think one of the really terrible things about the election campaign was the fact that neither party really described to the voters the seriousness of the situation that we face at the moment in my view actually our defense expenditure should be around 3% maybe even a bit higher the polls are already spending 3.9% and going to go even higher there is an urgency this is a major problem it’s more important and you know people won’t accept this from me it’s more important than the nation Health Service I’m sorry well on that note it’s very clearly put Richard we’re very grateful to you for speaking to us great thank you very much d That’s Richard D of the former head of Britain’s MI6 spency at the end they’re saying we should be spending 3% spending money on this is more important than the National Health Service e this war was a huge mistake the longer it goes on I think the more problems the Russian leadership will face amongst themselves in as it were continuing it

“Russia is in serious post-imperial decline.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “huge mistake” says former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove, “and the longer it goes on, I think the more problems the Russian leadership will face.”

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