The head of the British Army says he believes the threat from Russia will remain.

Gen Sir Patrick Sanders said despite the events in Russia over the weekend, “Putin’s army was still holding ground”.

Gen Sanders said you should “never write off Moscow”. Even a fractured Russia, he said, was unlikely to be good news.

Speaking in London at the Land Warfare Conference hosted by the Royal United Services Institute think tank, he noted the dispute inside Russia, which led to the failed mutiny, was not about ending the war in Ukraine but about how to fight it better.

Gen Sanders said it was too early to measure the success of Ukraine’s offensive. But he said Ukraine’s initial “shaping operations” had been impressive. He also said intercepted communications told the UK that Russia knew which Ukrainian forces had been trained by the British Army.

Gen Sanders said: “I believe the Russian threat will remain - we must arm ourselves and be ready."

BBC