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Relations with Russian president Vladimir Putin are on a knife edge as NATO forces prepare for a potentially catastrophic conflict in the Baltic.

And Putin is preparing the Motherland for nuclear devastation, building scores of new bunkers, bombs and space weapons as we speak.

Daily Star Online has already revealed the nuclear targets Vlad could strike in World War Three – and now we can reveal the situation for Brits is far more bleak than first feared.

(Image: GETTY) (Image: DS)

Britain is not only on the brink of nuclear catastrophe, the country’s defence system, military strategy and training standards are nowhere near the required level to take on Putin’s Russia.

That’s according to Dr Andrew Foxall, director of Russian studies at the highly respected Henry Jackson Society.

He told Daily Star Online: "As things stand, the UK is ill-equipped to deal with Russia.

"There is an urgent need to strengthen not only the UK’s defences, but those of NATO members as a whole.

"The alliance simply isn’t doing enough to build up the range of capabilities necessary to deter an aggressive and resurgent Russia."

Dr Foxall believes that one of the key reasons behind this inadequacy is the shift in military focus to deal with counterinsurgency and terrorism in countries like Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.

He added: "For almost two decades, the UK, with its NATO partners, has focused on counterinsurgency warfare.

"The military has been up against lightly armed insurgent forces, rather than conventional state-on-state warfare.

"This very different form of war has introduced logistics systems, training, exercises, equipment, and priorities quite different from those required to respond to a Russian threat."

And it doesn’t stop there.

Daily Star Online revealed earlier this year that Putin’s arsenal of nuclear weapons dwarfs NATO’s ten times over and his warheads could hit Britain “within minutes”.

Dr Foxall points to Russian activity over the past decade – claiming it would be “foolhardy to rule out Russia as a threat to global peace and stability”.

(Image: DS) (Image: DS)

He said: "Russia’s behaviour over the past decade – its wars in Georgia and Ukraine and actions in Syria – suggest that it would be foolhardy to rule out Russia as a threat to global peace and stability.

"Russia’s Air Force bombers are frequently intercepted by RAF jets in close proximity of UK airspace.

"Russia’s warships often sail near British waters.

"And Russia’s submarines have attempted to record the ‘acoustic signature’ made by the Vanguard submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles.

"More alarmingly, in 2008, a Russian Tu-160 “Blackjack” bomber carried out a dummy nuclear attack on northern England.

"Flying towards Hull, the bomber came within 20 miles of British airspace before turning away.

"While the chances of war between Russia and the UK seem rather low, it remains a possibility Russia will prepare for it – and Moscow has been doing so for some time."

British Admiral Lord West has already predicted war is on the way and warned that the world is at its least stable in his 60-year military career.

And Dr Foxall agrees with the military hero.

He added: "Lord West is quite right when he says that the world is 'more dangerous and chaotic' than it was during the Cold War."