Brits should be given survival training as nuclear threat looms, experts say

Brits should be given survival training in preparation for more nuclear threats, experts have claimed.

The warning comes as tensions between Russia and the West continue to mount – sparking concerns among defence experts.

British army veterans and disaster response specialists say the UK is unprepared to combat Russian strikes.

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They believe the UK is lacking compared to the US and Finland which have both stockpiled radiation pills, reports The Sun Online.

Biden's administration is said to have purchased £260million of the drug Nplate, which aims to treat blood cell injuries after a radiological or nuclear crisis.

Today (Thursday, October 13), Russian Security Council deputy secretary Alexander Venediktov threatened that it would be a "guaranteed escalation to World War Three" if Ukraine joined Nato.

It has been reported that pharmacies in Finland ran out of iodine pills a day after the health ministry suggested that each household should buy a single dose.

Professor Andrew Futter, of International Politics at the University of Leicester, said: "If it was politically feasible, it would be a good idea to have people trained up, similar to the disaster preparedness projects in Finland.

"This would give us an idea of how society would function in the event of a disaster which disrupts our food and energy supplies."

British Army veteran Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford commented: "We can learn lessons from the Finns and others. We can start planning how we might follow the others in terms of training personnel from essential services. There may well be a plan already.

"Local authorities will have civil defence plans."

Experts highlighted how the UK previously prepared for disasters with several strategies such as government information programmes.

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Retired British Army officer General Sir Richard Shirreff added: "We should take that nuclear threat very seriously – but we should not in any way blink.

"But if we are promising massive retaliation in some way or other, you have to prepare for the worst case, and the worst case is being at war with Russia.

"That means a fundamental change of mindset in Nato countries.

"What we are missing is that recognition that we could find ourselves at war with Russia if there is a nuclear release. That is going to have profound implications for our society and our country.

"We need to build up and generate capabilities in our armed forces which have been sadly thrown away by successive governments since the early 2000s."

He added: "We might not want this war, but this war might want us.

"This is about insurance. The way to avoid a potential war with Russia is to be ready for it, and we are not ready for it."

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