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It’s time to take gloves off with Russia, says ex-Nato chief leading Britain’s defence review
Lord Robertson dismissed fears Putin will nuke Ukraine
THE ex-Nato chief leading Britain’s defence review says it is time to take the gloves off with Russia.
Labour grandee Lord Robertson said Kremlin tyrant Vladimir Putin could only be forced to retreat from Ukraine by “an absence of Western caution”.
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In a call to action seen by The Sun, the former Nato Secretary General wrote: “We cannot be inhibited in our support for Ukraine by fear of escalation.”
He added: “If Putin succeeds then our enemies will write the new world order.
“The security of the West is on the line.
“The stakes could not be higher.”
Lord Robertson dismissed fears Putin will nuke Ukraine.
He said so-called tactical nuclear weapons — smaller payload missiles which the Kremlin has threatened to drop in anger — have “no military utility”.
Their radiation could blow back on Russia and any use of nuclear weapons would cost Moscow its support from China and India, Lord Robertson argued.
Allies including Germany have refused to give Ukraine game-changing cruise missiles for fear of riling the Kremlin.
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But Lord Robertson, who served as Secretary General from 1999 to 2004, urged allies to give Kyiv more means to hit bases deep inside Russian soil.
And the former UK Defence Secretary called for a “robust political strategy” to convince Putin to stop fighting and leave Ukraine.
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He wrote: “Putting ourselves for a moment in Putin’s chair in the Kremlin, a strategic retreat would require seeing this: Long term commitments – not just one year – to the supply of weaponry, the chance to attack the bases from Ukrainian infrastructure is being targeted, a continued united West, and an absence of Western caution about potential escalation.
“That scenario, to him, would be a bleak prospect.”
Speaking at the defence review launch, he warned Moscow was part of a “deadly quartet” along with China, Iran and North Korea.
He added: “We in this country and the Nato alliance have got to be able to confront that particular quartet as well as other problems that are pervading the world.”
His comments on China went significantly further than the National summit in Washington which said China was now a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
He was asked to lead a defence review alongside Russia expert Dr Fiona Hill and the former commander of UK Joint Forces Command General Sir Richard Barrons.