Russia: US Senator says people should ‘up their cyber defences’

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On Wednesday, the Foreign Secretary featured on GB News to discuss the Ukraine crisis and she mentioned defence spending in the UK and across NATO. She said: “For years and years Russia has been building up its military strengths, it’s been investing in high tech military capabilities, we, the United Kingdom have upped our defence spending, but we need to see NATO allies do that as well.

“My view is Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine if he is successful in Ukraine and we’re doing all we can to stop him being successful, he will move on to wider Eastern Europe he’s been publicly explicit about that.”

She concluded: “We need to do more to strengthen NATO and we are working on that.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has recently announced that Germany would increase defence spending to over two percent of its economic output after the invasion of Ukraine. 

The NATO spending target is two percent and allies have been critical that members of NATO have not been meeting this goal.

On Sunday, Liz Truss said that Britain must increase its defence spending and be cautious about focusing too much on cyberattacks over conventional weaponry.

On BBC Question Time last week, an audience member stated that the reduction of the British military shows Britain as weak on the global stage and said: “Isn’t this part of the base problem that the West as a whole and the UK in particular as well has cut and cut the size of our Armed forces over the last decade.

“So, no wonder that our countries don’t see us having the same strength that we used to have, and maybe we should be spending more on our Armed forces and less on things like Brexit.”

The Foreign Secretary blamed Europe for being far too complacent about the threat posed by Vladimir Putin over the years.

Last year’s integrated review of defence and foreign policy declared the UK would spend billions on cyber-capabilities and space but that this would sacrifice conventional weaponry, such as tanks. 

Last November, Boris Johnson said: “We have to recognise that the old concept of fighting big tank battles on European land mass is over.”

He added that there were “better things” for the UK to be investing in like the future combat aircraft Tempest and cyber capabilities. 

UK Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace said: “We have entered a new ‘competitive age’ of resurgent authoritarian states and diversifying threats.

“As the threat changes, we must adapt, remaining clear-eyed about what capabilities we need, retire those that are less relevant, and invest in areas that will give us a strategic advantage.”

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Chairman of the Commons defence select committee Tobias Ellwood disagreed with the PM and Mr Wallace saying that the modernisation of warfare into cyber and space warfare did not mean that “old threats have disappeared”.

He continued: “Defending and holding ground requires force presence: mobile hard power in the form of light and heavy armour and infantry; the very things that were cut in the last Defence Review. 

“These cuts must not be urgently reversed.”

Ms Truss spoke to BBC’s Sunday Morning and said: “We will need to do more; we will need to spend more and we will need to provide more support.”

Boris Johnson has emphasised since the attack on Ukraine that the UK’s defence spending is reaching record sums.

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