Russia can outgun British troops, leaked report suggests
Russian soldiers march during the Victory Day military parade this year marking 71 years since the end of the Second World War Credit: AP
10 August 2016 • 12:40am
The
Russian army can outgun British troops on the battlefield, a leaked report suggests, following military advances by the Kremlin.
The assessment by the British Army's warfare branch, seen by
The Times newspaper, warned that
Russian weapons, including rocket launchers and air defence systems, were more powerful than their British equivalents.
It came as Vladimir Putin and Theresa May on Tuesday spoke for the first time since she took office and
both expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of Russian-British relations.
The announcement by the Kremlin could herald the start of improved relations between the two countries that have been strained since the 2006 poisoning death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko and the Ukraine crisis, among other issues.
Russia displays military might with Victory Day parade on Red Square Play! 01:31
In the phone call, which Moscow said was initiated by Britain, both leaders "expressed dissatisfaction with the current parameters of cooperation in both the political and economic sphere".
The leaked military report added that the UK and its Nato allies were "scrambling to catch up" with Russia's ability to use electronic means to hijack enemy drones and disrupt other military transmissions, which were described as a "real game changer".
“In the unlikely event of a direct confrontation between Nato and RUS [Russia], we must acknowledge that RUS currently has a significant capability edge over UK force elements,” the paper reportedly said.
“Due to the fact that some of our high-end military capabilities have been eroded since 2003, we must find ways to ‘fight smarter’ at the tactical level, acknowledging that some adversaries may be armed with weapons that are superior to our own.”
The report was produced in March under the direction of Gen Sir Nick Carter, head of the Army, the newspaper said.
It is understood the report is based on one training exercise carried out in Ukraine.
Russia shows force in large scale military drill Play! 01:33
An Army spokesman said: "The British Army conducts regular reviews of potential scenarios in order to improve its readiness to both protect UK influence and protect our people."
The report also recommended that soldiers were made more aware of manipulative online tactics used on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and should leave electrical devices at home while on exercises.
The publication,
Insights to "Training Smarter" Against a Hybrid Adversary, concluded that one of Russia's goals in Ukraine was to practise "new methods of warfare as well as testing modern and prohibited weapons", the report said.
It sets out how the UK could counter Russia's new hybrid strategy of electronic warfare, drones, propaganda and artillery.
Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, Britain's former top officer in Nato, said: "What we get from successive governments has been that it is all fine and dandy and 'aren't we doing well'.
"Actually, the reality is that our capability has been dramatically hollowed out."
In June,
Poland and its Nato allies launched the largest-ever joint military exercises aimed at shoring up security on the alliance's eastern flank amid the West's worst standoff with Russia since the end of the Cold War.
US and UK troops conduct Nato military exercises with Georgia Play! 01:51
The two-week long Anaconda manoeuvres were aimed at "checking the alliance's ability to defend its eastern flank," Antoni Macierewicz, the Polish defence minister, said.
More than 31,000 soldiers from 24 Nato and former-Soviet "Partnership for Peace" states including Ukraine took part in the manoeuvres, held biannually across Poland since 2006.
Some 14,000 US troops joined 12,000 Polish soldiers and around 1,000 from Britain for the exercises involving some 3,000 vehicles, 105 planes and 12 naval vessels.
