UK Not Ruling Out Possibility of Russian 'Aggression' Against NATO

Despite London's intention to cooperate with Russia in the fight against the Islamic State, the country's latest defense strategy still paints a picture of Russia as a potential threat.

LONDON (Sputnik) — The United Kingdom does not rule out aggression on the part of Russia toward NATO member states, the country's defense strategy announced on Monday said.

"Russia is mid-way through a program of major investment to modernize and upgrade its military, including its nuclear forces. It has also increased its nuclear exercises and rhetoric, with threats to base nuclear forces in Kaliningrad [Russian region between Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic Coast] and Crimea. Its military activity around the territory of our Allies, and close to UK airspace and territorial waters, is designed to test our responses," the new strategy said.

Russia's policy will further be "hard to predict," according to the document, and London cannot rule out the possibility that Moscow may feel tempted to act aggressively against NATO members.

The document guaranteed to invest more in NATO, recalling that the UK’s defense budget is the second largest in NATO after the United States, and the largest in the European Union.

London will strive for cooperation with Russia on a number of global security issues, according to the National Security Strategy.

"Russia is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and notwithstanding our differences, we will seek ways of cooperating and engaging with Russia on a range of global security issues, such as the threat from ISIL [Islamic State]," the National Security Strategy said.

The UK government cited successful cooperation that London and Moscow had during negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program as a basis for further joint efforts.

London has been carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIL) targets in Iraq since August 2014, but had not yet extended its campaign to Syria.

Russian jets commenced precision airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad. Since the beginning of the air campaign, Russian Aerospace Forces have inflicted considerable damage to militants, according to the Syrian government.

Relations between Moscow and the West have deteriorated significantly since the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea reunified with Russia in 2014 following a referendum. Since then, NATO has been increasing its presence in Eastern Europe, as the West refused to recognize the results of the referendum and blamed Moscow for violating Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Russia has denied the allegations and has repeatedly stated that the bloc's increased activities near its borders undermine regional and international stability.