The First Sea Lord Baron West has warned that the risk of nuclear war is far greater now than during the Cold War.
The former Royal Navy chief who served in the Falklands War warned that the full-scale invasion in Ukraine has not been seen since 1945.
Vladimir Putin’s closest ally, Dmitry Medvedev warned last week that Russia is ready to take “revenge” on the West amid the new sanctions over the death of Alexei Navalny.
British government sanctioned six chiefs from the “Polar Wolf” penal colony near to the Arctic Circle over the mysterious death of Navalny, calling it which led to the Russian Embassy in London calling this a “trademark UK hypocrisy.”
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The Russian Embassy said on X, “In the meantime, Russian citizens are being killed with British ordnance and missiles supplied to the failing Kiev regime.”
Admiral Lord West was the Security Advisor to the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, warned that the world is in a “more dangerous” and “more uncertain” period that at any other time.
Russia has also threatened to shoot down NATO aircraft over the Black Sea which would instantly trigger Article 5.
Moscow are acting as they did during the Cold War and by threatening NATO planes over the Black Sea could be seen as a sign that Putin’s forces are in “difficulty on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
He told the Express.co.uk, “If Russia is a threat, the biggest thing we contribute to European NATO is our Navy – they rely on us.
“That’s why HMS Prince of Wales is the flagship for this huge exercise going on at the moment is because provide that.”
The former Royal Navy chief then referred to those who are still on the list for service, Lord West added, “I’m still on the active list. I’ve been on the active list since 1965.
“And in the world is more dangerous now and more uncertain than at any time on my time in the active.”
Lord West was asked to compare the current tensions with Russia to that of post-World War Two with the then USSR, he told the outlet, “I think the Cold War was more certain because rules had been built up and we were able to talk on back channels, with phone calls to people, so we knew how they behaved.
“Now it’s uncertain. Putin is behaving very strangely, we’ve got these other actors like the Iranians behaving in an extraordinary way, China is a real problem as well. It’s much more complicated.
“In the Cold War, yes, if it went wrong, we’d have all been annihilated.
“But actually, there was a degree of certainty there and that was really important.”
He then warned that there is “absolutely” a risk of accidental nuclear war as tensions between the West and Russia are now far worse than ever before in history.
Lord West added, “The thing is more broadly our nation is dependent on our Navy for hundreds of years.
“We run global shipping from London still and you need warships to look after that and of course, they’ve let our numbers dwindle and dwindle.
“And that, again, is something I don’t think the British public realise. Much they’ve let it they’ve let it dwindle and dwindle.
“I’ve been banging on about it since 2013. I’ve been banging on about it for 11 years and always I’ve been put back in my box and told ‘Oh, everything’s fine, it isn’t a problem, the government will meet your commitments’.
“Now suddenly, they say ‘Oh, this is a bit tight, actually. There’s a bit of a worry that we might have a war’.
“Well I told you so. I’ve told them time and again.”
