UK military chief Richard Knighton says Britain must catch up with Europe on Russia

Britain's military chief sees a rising threat

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the chief of the defence staff, told the Financial Times in a rare interview ahead of Remembrance Sunday that Britain must catch up with its European allies. He said allies closest to Russia feel its aggression and the war in Ukraine more acutely, and that Moscow's appetite for risk has clearly grown. Knighton, 57, said the term "hybrid activity" no longer does justice to the gravity of Russia's actions.

He put the point in stark terms:

“This is the most dangerous period I've known in my adult life”

He added that the threat, principally from Russia but also global, is rising.

Sabotage, assassinations and bomb threats

Knighton said the Russian state carries out targeted assassinations, sabotage and cyber attacks, and that there is proof of this in Europe and to some extent in the UK. European security officials said in early November 2026 that they were examining whether a series of bomb threats against European airlines and news organisations came from Russia. A cross-border investigation by intelligence and security agencies is under way, and officials told the FT that attribution is still a long way off. Some in the intelligence community were nonetheless confident that Russia was the most likely culprit, the FT reported, while Russia has previously denied any involvement in hybrid attacks on European soil. False alerts on Thursday, 5 November 2026 affected at least 27 flights across Europe, including a Wizz Air service from Milan to Bucharest.

Household stockpiling and the emergency kit

On Sunday, 8 November 2026, Knighton told the BBC that he was responding to the government's call for households to stockpile water and food, amid growing concern about disruption from hostile states. Asked what was in his own emergency kit, he said he had discussed it with his wife and spent the weekend clearing out cupboards, concluding that "there's a lot of tins in the Knighton household". He said the emergency services and the armed forces are the first line of defence for the nation, but that everyone can play a part in getting ready.

A naval pact and the High North

His remarks came on the eve of a naval pact to bolster defence of the north Atlantic, the Arctic and the Baltic. The UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, which also includes the Netherlands, the Baltic states and Scandinavian countries, is set to move beyond memorandums of understanding and meetings toward practical measures on how navies, air forces and armies will work together. Knighton named deterring Russian submarines, so they cannot attack or threaten shipping in wartime, as one of the most important tasks. He described the High North, covering parts of the north Atlantic and the Arctic, as increasingly vital to western economies and NATO security, partly because of climate change and greater navigability of previously ice-covered areas.

Spending pledge and the case for the public

Chancellor John Healey pledged in the Budget in October 2026 that Britain would raise military spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. Knighton said the state must explain the Russian threat to the public, particularly while the government asks society to accept higher defence spending. In a December 2025 speech at the RUSI institute in London, he said Russian leaders wanted to eventually destroy NATO. In an article for The Independent in October 2026, he argued that the aim was to prevent a war rather than prepare for one.