Admiral Sir Tony Radakin: To hope that Putin is not doing well or could be murdered is wishful thinking

The head of the British armed forces has speculation that Russia's President Vladimir Putin is "not well" or could be murdered as "wishful thinking".

The head of the British defense staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, was asked whether President Putin, who started an invasion of Ukraine in February

But he said to Sophie Raworth in the Sunday morning show by BBC One: “I think some of the comments that he is not doing well or that someone will really murder or switch him off, I think they are wishful thinking.

"As military professionals we see a relatively stable regime in Russia, President Putin was able to suppress every opposition, we see a hierarchy that is invested in President Putin, and therefore no one has the motivation to challenge President Putin, and so on is dark."

He said that the "challenge of Russia would potentially be a threat to Russia for decades", and the next prime minister should know that Russia is "the biggest threat" for the United Kingdom.

he added: “So the greatest threat is Russia, and this is Russia in all its manifestations when you look at it militarily.

“Your land forces are probably less of a threat due to this deterioration, this exhaustion, which we see in her struggle in Ukraine.

"But Russia is still a nuclear power, it has cyber capabilities, it has space capabilities and it has certain programs under water so that it can threaten the underwater cables that make it possible for the world to be transferred to the whole globe."

What the British armed forces would look like if the defense spending would increase to three percent of GDP, he said: "I think they were even more modern and they have even more punch and they have even more influence on the world, and that is clearly a decision for the government."

After a recent visit to Kiev, he said that the Ukrainian army "absolutely" believed that it would win the war.

he added: "You plan to restore your entire territory in relation to Ukraine, and you see a Russia that has problems, a Russia that we assess that it has lost more than 30 percent of its floor combat effectiveness.

"What this actually means are 50,000 Russian soldiers who were either died or injured in this conflict, almost 1,700 destroyed Russian tanks, almost 4,000 destroyed armored fighter vehicles that belong to Russia."

How he will inform the next Prime Minister, he added: “We will always inform you about the current situation so that you know where we have our armed forces.

"This is dominated by Ukraine and the support we provide Ukraine, but we also try to step back and draw a broader threat.

"And then we have to remind the Prime Minister of the extraordinary responsibility that they have as a nuclear power to Great Britain, and that is part of the initiation for a new British Prime Minister."