Defenceless Britain is next in firing line when Ukraine falls

Yesterday, the defence secretary John Healey putVladimir Putin and his military on noticefollowing reports of aggressive activity by theRussian surveillance ship Yantar towards an RAF plane sent to track it off the north of Scotland.

- ROBERT FOX

Healey said the Yantar crew had fired laser beams at the pilots of an RAF P-8 maritime patrol plane. “That Russian action is deeply dangerous,” he warned. “We see you. We know what you are doing. And if Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”

Ready for what, you may ask? The activities of Yantar around the British Isles have been noted for nearly three years. The summer before last, the Irish coastguard spotted the ship loitering off Limerick for almost a month, close to one of the main hubs for the transatlantic communication cables. The ship comes under Russia’s GUGI agency, a separate naval command, now responsible for ocean surveillance and sabotage. Among the GUGI inventory is a mother submarine, Belgorod, which can launch underwater attack drones capable of cutting underwater cables and oil and gas pipelines.

Just a few hours before Healey gave his warning to Vladimir Putin, the powerful Commons defence committee concluded, after a lengthy enquiry, that the UK is less than capable of defending itself, its territories and allies, and in particular its home territory. The report, entitled “Questions raised about UK’s fundamental ability to defend itself”, states bluntly: “Conclusion: We question the Ministry of Defence’s ability to protect the UK and the Overseas Territories from crisis or conflict.”

The UK is not fulfilling its prime duty under Article 3 of the Nato founding charter, which obliges a country to be capable of defending itself, thereby enabling it to come to the assistance of allies. Almost uniquely, the UK still doesn’t have a proper a Nato-compliant national defence plan, despite being a founder member of the alliance.