What do you make of of Putin’s threat to NATO countries about sending troops I mean it isn’t necessarily on the cards that that one NATO would send troops into Ukraine but this certainly is is a a warning he’s made before it is and there’s a bit of saber rattling going on
Here and there’s always a danger this Cry Wolf isn’t it the more times you do it um but this is the an opportunity for President Putin to address Parliament it’s worth putting that in context in two weeks time obviously presidential elections are due and perhaps inevitably
Um part of what he was talking about today was for a domestic audience but part of it very firmly was for an international audience and as you say it follows president macron of France that had hinted that there might be the opportunity of putting boots on the ground whether NATO or French into
Ukraine and largely because they’re running out of options with weapon support So how do you do something to turn the dawn of course Putin absolutely took this opportunity to say if NATO gets involved there will be an escalation but it’s worth remembering you know that over the last two years um
Russia has consistently tried to deter the west from uh getting in involved it when we provided anti-tank weapons at the start it was an escalation then it was tanks then it was longrange missiles each time it might have delayed the west but it didn’t actually stop them but
It’s also worth pointing he also talked about bolstering um Western um the the defenses on the Western border because as you can see here with Finland and Sweden recently joining it’s massively expanded the border between Russia and NATO and therefore he’s framing that as a heightened threat and he also made the
Point the Russian forces are at Readiness and what he means by that is that don’t mess with me otherwise I’ll press the button so a message to the west but also a message domestically uh you know in terms of what he’s thinking in terms of of the war in Ukraine and
The fact that it is an election year yeah AB increasingly I tend to watch the body language of Putin on some of these things it felt like a more confident President Putin it gave a rare insight into what Russian people the diet they fed because it was the world according
To him he said that the majority of Russians supported the special military operation he said the military have gained the initiative on the battlefields they’ve gained invaluable combat experience but he also took the opportunity to highlight technology that Russia is bringing to bear in other words how powerful that is and he
Highlighted the Zircon uh Hypersonic missile this is it being tested um but it’s actually been used quite effectively very early in its time and development so we got a picture of the missile here and it’s a it’s a pretty 21st century uh missile there’s not many
Of them but he did highlight just how effective this m 8 missile had been it striking targets um now all is part of trying to make Russia Great again I it’s not in battle it’s growing um this economy actually grew last year by 3.6% it actually outgrew America and the EU
Uh and that was despite Western sanctions looking into that there are 16 and a half thousand Western sanctions in place it’s a phenomenal number um and he argued that a strong Russia was necessary for a strong um Global Order he blamed the US for trying to interfere
For trying to inflict a strategic feat but he also said that he Russia was of course ready to talk to the West apparently
There is good reason this place is called the high peak they catch the cold and the snow most Winters and with it the familiar routine of delays and disruption when we met Holly she just closed the nursery where she works in buckston we’ve shut now just about if we
Can stay open we always would um but obviously my manager you know you got to take into count the safety of people getting home as well we took the A6 from buckon towards Bakewell and as on so many routes across the Peak District the road ahead was blocked by Lor’s
Struggling to climb the hills it’s been difficult this morning yeah I’ll basically wait till I can go then I’ll go obviously and then uh call today yeah there what there’s not what you can wish to do about it one crash near Buxton saw a woman lose her life the police
Couldn’t say if the snow was a factor the Amber warnings stretched into North Wales 2 again the higher the location the more likely the snowfall cold weather Health alerts are also in place and hundreds of schools were closed to the joy of many pupils me
And my husband tried to get to work this morning and we kind of abandoned the cars it’s nice to enjoy for a day or two and then hopefully go back to normal and guys go to school that’s the main thing 3 two 1 ready then in darbishire at least the
Snowflakes started to turn to rain that slight change in the temperature even here on the higher ground which is now blanketed in snow means that the forecasters don’t believe that this will be hanging around for days and days every nation of the UK now has weather warnings in place this winter is
Still with us Tom palmenter Sky News
From destroying drones fired by iran-backed militants in the Red Sea to promising support for Ukraine against Russia for as long as it takes Britain enjoys a legacy leadership role on the world stage but it’s one that’s looking increasingly shaky with a damning report by MPS calling into doubt the UK’s Readiness for
War across 72 Pages it lay be shortages in weapons ammunition and people even as threats from Russia China and Iran grow the MP said the UK armed forces have deployed above their capacity in response to the worsening security situation but all have capability shortfalls and stockpile shortages and
Are losing Personnel faster than they can recruit them it is all about choice though that’s why defense is in such a crisis successive governments since the end of the Cold War chose to cut the size of the military to invest in other areas but given the renewed threats to Global
Security the UK faces another big decision increase the priority placed on defense maintaining the country’s status as a nuclear power and military leader or stop talking so tough and agreeing to do so much without the means to back it up the head of the committee of MPS that
Wrote the report said Russia’s war in Ukraine raised the Spectre of allout conflict returning once more to Europe the risk profile has increased we’re living in a more dangerous world and we as a country need to uh uh we need to RSE up to that and ensure that we meet
The challenge and continue to deter a Ministry of Defense spokesperson said we’re spending more than 50 billion pounds on defense this year alone and have significantly increased our spending on defense equipment to 288.2 billion pound over the next decade yet in the latest sign of strain a plan
For the UK’s Flagship to lead a major NATO exercise has been paused after the aircraft carrier developed a fault the Royal Navy said HMS Queen Elizabeth will be replaced by its other carrier as soon as possible Deborah Hayne Sky News
Let’s bring you some breaking news now the government’s announced new sanctions coordinated with the US targeting Iranian officials let’s bring in our political correspondent Rob poell for more H Rob what can you tell us so reading the details Jane this is not um a direct response to those um killings
Of US troops in Jordan which of course the US and the UK um has blamed um Iran and Iranian linked groups for this looks to be something that has been in the offing for a little bit longer than that and is actually a response to some Revelations from a TV documentary um in
December what it is is a sanctions package that targets seven individuals and one organization um uh they say that they are senior Iranian officials and members of organized criminal gangs who collaborate with the regime um and the organization is part of the Islamic revolutionary guard Corps uh unit 840
Um exposed in an investigation into plots to assassinate television presenters from the news channel Iran International on UK soil so it essentially means that some senior um Iranian officials and this organization will be subject to asset freezes and travel banss so um organizations in the
UK won’t be able to hold money on behalf of these people um or the organization um and uh the travel ban clearly means that they won’t be able to travel into the UK um either um there’s some details uh that have been released by the government as well saying since the
Start of 2022 the UK’s responded to at least 15 credible threats and plots to kill British or uk-based individuals by the Iranian um regime so this is to do with essentially the domestic threat and the threat posed potential threat posed by Iranian linked groups and individuals
To people within the UK and is a response um to that it is not a response to that um drone attack and the deaths of US troops that we’ve seen in the last 24 hours or so maybe what some um that want a tougher response towards Teran
Would also be calling for in response to this is full prescription of the irgc there have been calls from labor and from some conservatives as well for the group to be described as a terrorist organization um and clearly we wait to see what the response a likely military
Response you would think would be from the US and potentially the UK to those deaths that we saw on the Jordan Syrian Border in the last day or so okay Rob thanks very much
Well Joe Biden’s dilemma is made even more complex because of Iran’s role as Puppet Master in the region well our International correspondent Alex Rossy is with me now and Alex you know for months we’ve heard uh the US say we’re trying to avoid escalation but that’s exactly what’s what’s happened now here
And um what we’ve seen is exactly that escalation yda we are now coming to an inflection point and in many ways this is what Joe Biden and his administration were really trying to avoid they were hoping to a avoid remember that the policy that the United States has
Pursued since October the 7th has been one of unalloyed unbridled support for the Israelis but at the same time trying to contain the fire from spreading across the region but it is spreading remember now where this theater has opened up Syria Iraq Lebanon Israel Gaza and now of course with the surface
Personnel in Jordan as well three uh arm Armed Forces members killed he has to respond he has to try to restore his deterrent how he does that it’s difficult there aren’t any good choices but it comes to either sending a very convincing strong message in a region
Where hard power is respected or looking weak and as far as many of these actors in the region are concerned the United States is already looking weak tonight yeah so talk us through the options then what are some of the options that Biden has well this is you know what he’s
Being pushed to do domestically is I suppose the the kind of big red button option and that is a direct strike uh in Iran the calculation of course is that all of this chaos that we’re seeing across the region really starts in tan and you need to send a very convincing
Message to tan to desist and stop it and by striking on Iranian salt you do that but of course the risk is that actually you set off a chain reaction across the region which worsens things but to do nothing again this cycle continues we’ve got we’ve had what 170 attacks so far on
US forces and this one was deadly so they have to do something when they do it again we don’t know I suspect it will be seriously thought about calibrated there will be things that they can look at you know certain things that they can can hit but I think they’ll take their
Time going back from hitting Iran they could hit say Iran revolutionary forces in Iraq or Syria that would be another option and I suppose the the least option that they could do is Target the militias who perpetrated this attack on US forces yeah as you say a number of
Options there that we will continue to discuss uh on the program Alex thanks so much