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UK should prepare for 'something close to war', Nato's Deputy General tells LBC, as he warns Russia 'cannot be trusted'
9 April 2024, 18:07 | Updated: 9 April 2024, 18:44
The UK should prepare for "something close to war", Nato's deputy has told LBC, amid heightened tensions around the world.
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Speaking exclusively with Tom Swarbrick, Mircea Geoana noted that the UK "isn't perfectly prepared" for the onset of war should world lead to such a situation.
The warning came as the Deputy General added Nato members had "neglected defence" in recent years, leaving countries, including the UK, unprepared.
Pushed on the subject of conscription, Mr Geoana added: "I think what we have to tell our citizens is, 'Listen, there is a more dangerous world'.
He went on to add that "nobody is perfectly prepared" should an international conflict involving Nato be declared, adding that Ukraine becoming a member of both Nato and the EU was an inevitability.
The news comes on the same day ISIS made terror threats against a number of stadiums hosting Champions League quarter final clashes across Europe - including The Emirates, Arsenal's home ground in north London.
Nato Deputy Secretary General says that the UK should prepare for 'something close to war'
Speaking exclusively with LBC, Mr Geoana said: "We have neglected defence because we believed, all of us, that we are living in a more serene world, in a sort of, post-mortem world.
"And now we are waking up brutally to a new reality.
"What do we do? Do we give up? Or we start investing again?" he added.
It comes as Mr Geoana noted America will still engage with Nato even if Trump wins the upcoming US election.
Speaking on the subject of international relations with Russia, Mr Geoana added the country "was not to be trusted" where peace talks are concerned.
He said that Russia would only "rearm and come back" following such negotiations.
"I think every single citizen of this alliance in the UK, or in any other country, they do understand, that without peace and security there is no business. There is no life," he told Tom Swarbrick.
"We neglected defence because we believed we were living in a serene world," he added of the current global climate.
It comes one month after Sweden finally joined Nato after a lengthy two-year wait.
It followed its formal application to join the military alliance in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
