Wacha1
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- Dec 21, 2009
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Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a wreath laying ceremony in Saint Petersburg today amid growing alarm over his intentions in Eastern Europe
The Conservative chair of the Defence Select Committee Rory Stewart said Mr Putin was watching to see if Britain was going soft on defence. He said Britain's military could not stand another round of defence cuts after the election.
Mr Stewart's stark warning comes after RAF fighters, were scrambled to escort two Russian bombers in international airspace off the coast of Cornwall yesterday.
A Typhoon jet was seen taking off from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire at 4.30pm, shortly before the Russian planes were intercepted.
The Prime Minister today admitted Mr Putin's regime was 'trying to make some sort of point' but insisted the UK military had the capability to protect the country.
Russia meanwhile attacked Britain's 'too old' Defence Secretary Michael Fallon after he claimed Mr Putin posed a threat to EU and NATO states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The Kremlin accused the Tory minister of 'complete intolerable' stereotyping of Russia in his comments which were 'beyond the bounds of diplomatic ethics'.
Vladimir Komoyedov, chairman of the Russian parliament's defence committee, accused 62-year-old Mr Fallon of 'yet another stupidity' and said he was 'too old, not only in terms of his age but also in his ideas'.
The row comes after Britain raised concerns over the latest in a series of military manoeuvres by Russian forces around the UK as relations between Russia and the West continue to sour.
An MoD spokesman said: 'RAF Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighter aircraft were launched yesterday after Russian aircraft were identified flying close to UK airspace.
'The Russian planes were escorted by the RAF until they were out of the UK area of interest. At no time did the Russian military aircraft cross into UK sovereign airspace.'
However, a witness claims she saw the Russian planes flying inland in Cornwall while she was on a driving lesson yesterday afternoon.
Sue Bamford, 45, from Bodmin, said: 'I live in Cornwall and we see a lot of military aircraft around. But this was like nothing I had seen before.
'They were flying really low through the St Mawgan valley and around Cornwall.
'I am not an imaginative person in that way. I know what I saw - and I saw the Russian bombers flying over UK soil.'
Her driving instructor Claire Brazil, from St Austell, added: 'I am not an expert but they did look out of the ordinary for Cornish airspace. We leant up to have a look, they were definitely inland, not over the coast.'
The Ministry of Defence said it is standing by its original statement.
Prime Minister David Cameron said that Moscow appeared to be trying to make 'some sort of a point' with the latest incursion by Russian warplanes.
'I think what this episode demonstrates is that we do have the fast jets, the pilots, the systems in place to protect the United Kingdom,' he said during an event at Felixstowe in Suffolk.
'I suspect what's happening here is that the Russians are trying to make some sort of a point and I don't think we should dignify it with too much of a response.'
But Defence Committee chair Rory Stewart told MailOnline it was crucial Britain did not go soft on defence spending next year.
'The most important thing is the UK must make a commitment to spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence. That's what Putin will be looking for. We can't at the moment be showing weakness.
'The problem isn't about planes this year – the problem is next year. At the moment we've got the planes, but we need the funding in the next four or five years.'
Mr Cameron has refused to guarantee that he will not cut defence spending below 2 per cent of GDP after the election - despite signing up to a pledge to maintain the military budget at last year's Nato summit in Wales.
The Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has insisted that Nato is ready to fight back against Russian aggression as it poses a 'real and present danger' to the Baltic States.
He told of the threat to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as Vladimir Putin continues to 'test us' by deploying submarines and warplanes near British territory.
Defence analyst Major Charles Heyman said the flights were being carried out by Russia to learn more about Britain's air defences.
He told MailOnline: 'What they are doing is getting us to turn on our radars so they look at our radars and suck up electronic intelligence. They are also flying the Russian flag.
'It's a game that has been played for years and we do the same thing to them. In some respects, it is good practice for both sides. It's like two children staring at each other in the playground as if to say; 'Stay away from me'.
'I don't think it is anything to worry about particularly. The situation in Ukraine has changed things though in that we are now pushing the Russians and they are pushing us.
'They are trying to say; 'Don't underestimate us, don't disrespect us, we're still here'.'
The latest incident came after a similar approach by two identical Russian planes last month off the coast of Bournemouth.
Experts said then that the manoeuvre could have been designed to 'probe the RAF speed of reaction' – raising fears that the Russians were looking for weaknesses in the British fighter force.
Russia is said to have stepped up military manoeuvres as Britain joins the chorus of international condemnation of Vladimir Putin's support and alleged arming of rebels in Ukraine.
During the similar incident last month, the Typhoons were so close to the Russian planes – roughly 1,000ft away – that they could signal to the pilots.
Dr Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, said: 'People thought that after the end of the Soviet Union, Russia would become more and more like Europe but it hasn't happened that way. Russia has its own system.'
He added: 'Russia can't project force to the same degree. Their best weapon is unpredictability.'
Earlier this week, a Russian warship was intercepted by the Royal Navy as it strayed close to the UK while passing through the English Channel.
The vessel – equipped with missiles, anti-aircraft guns and torpedoes – was monitored and escorted by a heavily-armed British frigate, HMS Argyll.
Britain summoned the Russian ambassador for a dressing down after long-range bombers flew over the Channel close to UK airspace last month, disrupting civil aviation and prompting Britain, like today, to scramble two Typhoon jets.
Fears have been raised that a Russian military plane could crash with an airliner after a near-miss in the skies over a Sweden last year when a spy-plane switched off its transponders, making it invisible to commercial radar.
Figures released by the MOD show that last year the RAF deployed jets in response to Russian military aircrafts eight times.
Russian president Vladimir Putin will try to 'humiliate' Nato if the West goes soft on him, a senior MP has warned.
Rory Stewart, the influential chair of the Commons defence select committee, said the world was facing a 'genuinely dangerous' situation in Eastern Europe and warned there was a risk of unintended escalation.
He said the threat posed by Russia should force all political parties to guarantee there will not be further cuts in defence spending.
Mr Stewart told BBC Radio 4's The World At One: 'I think there is always the risk of that, but equally there is the risk that if you do nothing, you end up with violence.
'I mean this is the razor edge which Western policy makers need to walk. If they do nothing, Putin who is a real opportunist, will be encouraged to push his luck and see if he can humiliate Nato. If on the other hand we do too much, we could risk provoking an overreaction.
'I think we are facing a genuinely dangerous situation and this really means that Britain needs to make the commitments, the long-term commitments, to defence spending.'
He said it was 'very important' to send a clear message to Mr Putin that Nato is 'actually serious about defending its own territory'.
The MP said: 'I think it should be a manifesto commitment from all the political parties and it is something that I think Russia will be looking at quite carefully.'
He added: 'The world has never been so dangerous. We need to have a very honest conversation with the public, the world is more dangerous now than any time in the past 20 years.
'We cannot lurch to isolationism. We have to reach out into the world otherwise Europe will find itself in a very dangerous situation.'
It came after Russia reacted with fury after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warned there was a 'real and present danger' that Moscow could repeat the tactics used to de-stabilise Ukraine against the Baltic States.
Deputy foreign minister Aleksandr Lukashevich said his words were 'beyond diplomatic ethics' and warned that the Kremlin would 'find a way to react'.
In his comments to journalists travelling with him to Sierra Leone, Mr Fallon compared the threat from Russian president Vladimir Putin to Islamic State and warned Nato had to be ready to respond to any further aggression 'whatever form it takes'.
In a statement reported by the Russia Today website, Mr Lukashevich said his remarks were 'absolutely unacceptable'.
'His absolutely unacceptable characteristics of the Russian Federation remind me of last year's speech of US president Barack Obama before the UN general assembly, in which he mentioned Russia among the three most serious challenges his country was facing,' he said.
'I believe we will find a way to react to Mr Secretary's statements.'
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