Luke Pollard’s Defence Universities Alliance has been criticised. (Image: Getty)
Luke Pollard has been slammed for revealing the nation’s defence plans in a move dubbed a “nightmare for MI5“. Professor Anthony Glees, from the University of Buckingham, has warned Vladimir Putin is “ramping up war threats” with the increasing possibility of sabotage and military retaliation against British weapons factories.
Pollard, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, previously announced the formation of the Defence Universities Alliance (DUA) which named 35 universities as founding members to strengthen national defence research. The move has been criticised by Professor Glees as Russia grows increasingly hostile in a bid to prevent the UK from producing weapons for Ukraine. He told the Daily Express: “How daft was that? We’re actually telling Putin and his goons where they can strike and cause mayhem. This will be a nightmare for MI5 and the cops.”
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The DUA forms part of a wider £182 million investment to build defence-related skills across Britain. Pollard, the MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said the universities involved in the initiative would “play a key role in innovating and supporting defence”.
Professor Glees, who specialises in security, counter-terrorism, and European affairs, believes Russia poses an increasing threat to the UK’s defence industry. The immediate spike in tension comes after Burnham handed Ukraine classified blueprints for the Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles.
The professor said: “Russia is now massively ramping up its war threats against us here in the UK in a futile attempt to force Burnham into denying Ukraine the weapons and expertise it needs.
Putin is ramping up threats against the UK. (Image: Getty)
“We’ve had many instances of acts of sabotage here in the UK, striking at sites of importance to Ukraine, trying to spook us in our waters and scoping our undersea cables. The boozy, softly-softly long serving Russian ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin has been called back (now he’s home, he needs to stay away from windows).
“One of Putin’s closest allies Vladimir Solovyov has said Britain should be ‘treated harshly and mercilessly with thermobaric weapons to erase everything off the face of the earth’ and influential Andrei Federov has called on Putin to wage ‘semi-military action’ against the UK’.”
Although Russia has not launched any direct military strikes against British infrastructure, Andrei Fedorov, a close adviser to Putin, formerly warned that drone and missile factories could face a “semi-military” response.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said any British facilities could face direct strikes as the Labour Government was “playing with fire”.
Burnham handed Ukraine classified blueprints for the Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles (Image: Getty)
However, Professor Glees believes these threats “simply underline Putin’s weakness”. He reiterated the need to “hit Putin” directly, arguing that the Russian President is well aware that the rate at which he is losing soldiers in the ongoing war is “unsustainable”.
He continued: “Despite his poker face, now verbally slapped by Modi, he is desperate and many turn to more acts of violence and sabotage here in the UK.
“That makes it all the more alarming that last year the UK’s defence minister Luke Pollard, very foolishly, in my opinion, published a list of 35 UK universities that were working in a Defence Alliance to re-arm Britain.”
Narendra Modi told Putin that he must end the war with Ukraine on Monday (August 31). Speaking during the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the Indian Prime Minister warned of the threat to humanity.