Threat from Putin’s Russia will ‘endure past the tip of battle in Ukraine’, Keir Starmer says

Keir Starmer is this week expected to meet Nato troops serving in Estonia as he warns Putin’s Russia is the “most acute threat” the UK faces.

The PM will also say the risk from Moscow will endure beyond the end of its brutal invasion of Ukraine – a conflict almost in its third year. He is expected to say: “The Russia we face today is unlikely to change for a generation. It is the most acute threat we face, and it will endure beyond the end of the war in Ukraine.”

“Russia’s risk appetite is growing to dangerous levels,” he will add, according to reports.

It came as the PM travelled to Norway on Sunday before attending a defence summit in Estonia on a two-day trip to northern Europe. In Norway Mr Starmer is expected to launch a new partnership with PM Jonas Gahr Støre to work together on clean energy and carbon capture.

No10 said both leaders will aim to sign the green energy deal in spring 2025 and bring more jobs to both Norway and the UK.

The PM said: “It will harness the UK’s unique potential to become a world-leader in carbon capture – from the North Sea to the coastal south – reigniting industrial heartlands and delivering on our Plan for Change.”

He added the partnership with Norway, which shares a border with Russia, will “make the UK more energy secure, ensuring we are never again exposed to international energy price spikes and the whims of dictators like Putin”.

The visit comes after the first projects in Britain to take carbon out of the atmosphere were given the go-ahead in the north-east of England, with BP and Norwegian energy firm Equinor confirming investments on Tuesday.

Floating offshore wind farm Green Volt, which is run by Norwegian-based firm Vargronn and Scottish-based company Flotation Energy, has also announced front-end engineering and design contracts to help the project. It is estimated the plant will deliver power to about one million homes when it starts operating in 2028.