For Western leaders, the Kremlin’s plans to raise defence spending even further, financed with massive new tax increases, will merely confirm their fears about Vladimir Putin’s ultimate aim of provoking a broader conflict with the Nato alliance. After Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte issued his wake-up call last year that Russia could mount an attack against the alliance within five years, there have been numerous warnings that some form of Russian aggression could take place even earlier. Only last week Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski told a meeting at the UN General Assembly that Moscow is “cooking up something big this year”, while some European intelligence chiefs are warning that Russia could attempt to test Nato’s defences within “months, not years”. Mounting concerns over Putin’s intentions towards Nato are said to explain the decision by CIA director John Ratcliffe to fly to Moscow in late August to warn Putin of the risks he faced if he did provoke a confrontation with the Western alliance.

Reports that Moscow is planning to raise military spending in 2027 by a whopping 27 per cent will merely confirm the view that, despite the numerous setbacks Putin has suffered during the Ukraine conflict, the Russian leader has lost none of his appetite for provoking a wider European war.........

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