The situation has been compared to that which Britain faced in the years before World War 2
Brits should prepare for conscription “within six years” if the threat of Putin’s Russia doesn’t go away, an expert has warned.
Earlier this week, the head of the army warned that Brits might be called up to fight if the UK goes to war because of the size of the military.
General Sir Patrick Sanders issued a warning to the government that the armed forces are ‘too small’ and that they will need to ‘mobilise’ the public if the country goes to war.
In particular, General Sanders highlighted the threat from Russia and pointed to steps being taken by other European nations such as Sweden and Finland to put their populations on a “war footing”.
This view has since been echoed by a security and intelligence expert, who said General Sanders was “absolutely right” that the UK should prepare for an outbreak of all-out war.
Professor Anthony Glees, from the University of Buckingham, told the Mirror: “The UK Government should plan to sign up volunteers now and over the next three years and ‘the whole of the nation’ should prepare for conscription within six years unless Putin were defeated.”
He compared the situation to that which the UK faced in 1937 when the threat of Nazi Germany was spreading across Europe.
While Sir Patrick said he didn’t support conscription, he did encourage Brits to “think more like troops” in case an all-out war with Russia does break out.
Professor Glees continued: “I would see a ‘limited conscription’, a call-up of incentivised volunteers, as being very much on the cards if Putin is now thrown out of Ukraine.
“Obviously, if there were a wider European or world war, conscription would follow at once.
“Putin has repeatedly said he wants the post-1997 NATO states to be disarmed and brought back into the Russia orbit, re-creating the system of satellites that was the strategic policy of the USSR.
“There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of Putin just going away.”
