| Author (Corporate) | United Kingdom: House of Commons: Library |
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| Series Title | Briefing Paper |
| Series Details | No.8271 (23.03.18) |
| Publication Date | 23/03/2018 |
| Content Type | Journal | Series | Blog |
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On 26 March 2018 the House of Commons in the United Kingdom debated the issue of national security and Russia. The debate came after the attempted murder of a former double agent in Salisbury. The UK Government was in the process of reviewing national security capabilities and had indicated that it intended to strengthen them. The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy (of the House of Commons and House of Lords) published on the 23 March 2018 the report of its inquiry into the implementation of the National Security Strategy. The committee concluded that a review of the National Security Strategy was wise given the rapidly changing security environment, but that the Government’s review did not go far enough. Further information Russia had been modernising its military and spending more on armaments and personnel. Its rearmament programme was ambitious, however, particularly in the context of Russia’s economic weakness, and had been hit by delays and cancellations. Russia had also been working on its ‘hybrid strategy’, using soft power, political interference and fake news, and the hacking of essential infrastructure, to undermine Western democracies and economies. The UK was one of the European countries least dependent on Russian energy supplies. There had been a lot of controversy about the size and strength of UK military forces, and their preparedness in the event of conflict. Meanwhile, the replacement of the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons was underway, after a vote to approve that in 2016. Four new submarines, the Dreadnought class, would carry the deterrent. In the context of Brexit, intra-European defence collaboration and EU-NATO cooperation would be particularly important. The sanctions regime against Russia was agreed at EU level after Russia annexed Crimea in 2015, although it has been added to since then. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8271/CBP-8271.pdf |
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| Subject Categories | Culture, Education and Research |
| Countries / Regions | Russia, United Kingdom |
