Ex-MI6 Chief: 'Putin is not bluffing' | LBC analysis

As Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy head to the US to discuss giving Ukraine long-range western missiles to help end the war with Russia, Tom Swarbrick speaks to Sir Richard Dearlove, Former Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, to understand how Putin might respond.

The Russian President has recently warned that firing Western weapons into his country "would mean that Nato countries [...] are at war with Russia."

Sir Richard predicts Russia will fight back using "grey warfare", suggesting the West should prepare for the prospect of more cyber attacks and communications outages.

Explaining that "Russia already thinks its at war with the West", Sir Richard Dearlove - who was widely known as 'C' within the intelligence services - highlighted that communications outages are set to become increasingly likely.

"I think people have got to wake up to this - and I think it’s probably going to get worse, because this is seen in Russia as an escalation of the conflict, when all we’re doing is responding to Russian escalation."

Speaking with Tom Swarbrick at Drive, Mr Dearlove highlighted that rather than all-out war, Russia continues to operate in what he calls a "grey area".

"Grey warfare" refers to logistical and operational sabotage on a lesser scale than direct military conflict.

He explained this namely entails "cutting cables" and causing "engineered breakdowns" that could affect the UK's national infrastructure.

It comes as the Royal Navy and RAF were forced to shadowed Russian ships through the English Channel on Friday in what appeared to be a show of force by Russia.

HMS Iron Duke and HMS Tyne were deployed to track four Russian vessels through UK waters.

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