Wallace says Putin may lash out in next three or four years

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has said he thinks that Russia will remain a threat in the coming years as Russian dictator Vladimir Putin still has military resources.

He said this in an interview with The Sunday Times, Ukrinform reports.

Asked what keeps him awake at night, Wallace says it is a combination of the continuing threat from Putin's Russia, an increasingly aggressive China and terrorist groups that have still not gone away.

"If Putin loses in Ukraine, he will be deeply wounded. […] He's still got an air force and he's still got a navy — and we see his navy do quite aggressive maneuvers. Putin is not done with us yet. There is an ability for him, in the next three or four years, to lash out," Wallace said.

He noted that the threat of Putin's use of nuclear weapons is "still there in their doctrine." It is about the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

One way Russia could cripple the UK would be to attack undersea cables carrying communications links and energy supplies, Wallace said. "Russia has a program to have the ability to attack critical infrastructure on the seabed, whether that's fiber-optics or gas and oil. They have ships and submarines for it," he said.