Minister slams 'voices of weakness' urging UK to abandon Ukraine

Britain will not join the growing number of 'voices of weakness' urging the West to appease Vladimir Putin despite his threats to target the West, a senior Labour minister vowed today. 

Speaking at a Nato conference, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden blasted the Russian despot over recent threats to lower the threshold for a nuclear attack.

He also warned that Russia had 'stepped up' its cyber attacks against Ukraine and its allies over the past year and could weaponise AI in future.

However, he also hit out at those who have panicked in the face of Putin's threats. Prominent figures close to Donald Trump, including his sons Don Jnr and Eric have criticised Western materiel support for Ukraine.

Trump, who is due to return to the White House in November, backs appeasing the Russian leader in Ukraine.

But Mr McFadden told the London conference: 'We know from history that appeasing dictators engaged in aggression against their neighbours only encourages them. Britain learned long ago the importance of standing strong in the face of such actions.  

'That's why we support Ukraine in its fight to decide its own destiny.

'Putin is a man who wants destruction, not peace. He is trying to deter our support for Ukraine with his threats. He will not be successful.

'We will not join those voices of weakness who want to give Putin a veto over our help for Ukraine.

'And given the scale of Russia's hostility, my message to members today is clear: While no one should underestimate the Russian aggressive and reckless cyber threat to NATO, we will not be intimidated by it and we will never allow it to dictate our decisions or policies. And we will do everything we can to defend our countries against it.'

His comments at Nato's cyber defence conference in London follow not just an increase in Russian cyber attacks, but a change in Moscow's policies that lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Claiming that the Ukraine war was becoming a 'global' conflict, Russian president Vladimir Putin said he was entitled to target the military facilities of countries that had supplied weapons to Kyiv.

The change represents a significant escalation in tensions between Russia and the West, following US president Joe Biden's decision to give Ukraine permission to use American-supplied long-range missiles to attack targets within Russia itself.

Mr McFadden, whose brief as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster includes national security, went on to say Russian cyber attacks could 'turn off the lights for millions of people' and accused Moscow of targeting British media, telecoms and energy infrastructure.

He added: 'Aided by allies including the UK, Ukraine has had to defend itself from crippling Russian cyber attacks on its electricity grid, its airports, and other critical national infrastructure.

'Russia has targeted its mobile networks – cutting off communications for millions at a time – and on occasion, disabled the air raid warning system in Kyiv.'

Mr McFadden also used his speech to announce a new Laboratory for AI Security Research (LAISR) aimed at helping the UK stay ahead in 'the new AI arms race'.

The centre will bring together GCHQ, Oxford University, the National Cyber Security Centre, the Alan Turing Institute and numerous Government departments, and be backed by an initial £8.2 million in state funding.

He added that the UK would look to strengthen Nato's 'collective cybersecurity' through a new 'incident response project' to help deal with attacks on critical national infrastructure, while also boosting Britain's own defences.

He said: 'In a few days, I and the UK's senior national security officials will be sitting down with British businesses to discuss how they can boost their own security and help defend the nation from actors with malign intent – particularly from Russia.

'And I'll be very clear with them: Russia won't think twice about targeting British businesses in pursuit of its goals. It is happy to exploit any gap in our physical or cyber defences.

'And so I urge them to do everything in their power to strengthen their own security and protect themselves, the country and our allies from this threat.'