Former general Richard Shirreff urges NATO to prepare for war with Russia

NATO needs to ‘adjust its mindset’ and work on rearming western European countries, one of Britain’s most distinguished retired generals says.

Richard Shirreff was Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2011 to 2014. Picture: Getty Images

NATO needs to “adjust its mindset totally” and work on rearming western European countries in preparation for a war with Russia, one of Britain’s most distinguished retired generals has said.

Richard Shirreff, the former deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, also said he was concerned that the prevailing mood in London was that Russia had been defeated in Ukraine.

He said Whitehall was in danger of putting a new “carrier strike group” to project Global Britain above the need to confront Russia.

Shirreff, who served in the Nato role from 2011 to 2014, told The Times at the Cheltenham Literature Festival that while the Russian army could currently be characterised as a “rabble”, the conflict was far from over.

Shirreff said that initially he had “overestimated the capability of the Russian army and underestimated the courage, resource, resilience, determination and sheer cleverness” Ukrainians had demonstrated.

He added, however, that while Nato’s support had been “really impressive” it was necessary to “ramp it up”. “Russia is cornered and Putin is cornered,” he said. “And he could lash out and the chilling factor here is the nuclear one and some form of nuclear escalation. He said there would be more escalations as Ukraine reclaimed more of its territory and said Nato needed to “readjust its mindset totally”.

“What we have not seen is Nato recognising that it has got to be prepared for the worst case and the worst case is war with Russia. And the only way to prevent [it] is to be ready for it and Nato is a long way short of that.”

Shirreff said the organisation needed to counter the “cumulative disarmament of western European countries in the last decade plus” and to restock “exhausted war stocks”.

Firefighters attend the site of a Russian missile strike in Kyiv on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

“The level of capability and logistic support for the armed forces has to be thought through and the lost capability thrown away over years of disarmament has to be looked at,” he added.

Shirreff said he was also concerned about the priorities in Whitehall. “I am concerned there is a prevailing mood . . . that says: don’t worry about the Russians, they have been defeated, now let’s think about using the extra defence spending on another carrier strike group to sail around the Pacific under the auspices of Global Britain.”

“Let’s be clear; even if the Russian army collapses . . . we are not going to see a happy-clappy liberal in the Kremlin coming at the West with open arms.”

The Times