We need to show Putin and all his chums our armed forces are not a fuddy duddy Gilbert and Sullivan cast'

THE next 12 months will be "make or break" for the UK as our armed forces face an arms race to keep Russian aggression at bay, security experts have warned.

- MATT CLEMENSON

Fears of a Russian-sparked global conflict could even see 2026 become the year mass conscription becomes a reality for thousands of Britons as the Army faces its biggest crisis in a century on the continent.

Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert from the University of Buckingham, told the Express that the UK should go much further than the "gap year" military service programme announced by the Ministry of Defence last week.

He said it must "prepare for war with Putin's Russia sooner rather than later".

The Russian president launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, before European allies were able to shore up Kyiv's armed forces.

By the end of last year Russian forces were once again advancing to claim Ukrainian territory as US support for the war-torn country wavered amid ongoing peace talks championed by Donald Trump.

Russian "shadow fleet" vessels regularly approach UK waters, while an increase in "grey zone" cyber attacks and confrontations with Russian planes in the air have become more frequent.

Prof Glees said: "We need to ensure we are fighting fit for what 2026 is likely to throw at us.

Insufficient

"We need to spend vast amounts on building up a peace arsenal that Putin will find daunting.

"This includes introducing a form of conscription that goes way beyond the 'gap year' military training scheme that Defence Secretary John Healey has trumpeted so loudly.

"The starting offer of 150 'recruits' rising to 1,000 at some point in the future is simply insufficient.

"We need to demonstrate to Putin and his chums Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un that our armed forces are not a fuddy-duddy Gilbert and Sullivan cast but a modern, desperately serious warfighting community.