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TYRANT Vladimir Putin has chosen UK as its number one enemy and is ready to attack, an exiled Russian oil tycoon has warned.
Russia has ramped up its campaign of hybrid warfare and targeted assassinations across Europe since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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Prominent Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky told The Sun the West must not underestimate the Kremlin leader who is “100 per cent likely” to strike Britain “with any available means”.
Khodorkovsky, an exiled Russian businessman who spent 10 years in a Siberian prison after clashes with Putin, has emerged as a leading figure in opposition circles operating outside of Russia.
In an interview from his London office, he told The Sun: “Putin is a gangster, and he perceives someone else’s weakness as an invitation to attack them.
“Today, for Putin, Europe is a weak opponent.”
And Russia has “chosen” the UK as its “main enemy” , marking it up as the “force that stands behind everything that opposes Russia“.
Putin’s war in Ukraine has ground down its armed forces – leaving a direct military attack on Europe almost impossible.
Khordokovsky said: “Putin doesn’t have the right force for a proper attack against the United Kingdom. He doesn’t actually have enough military might left to attack the West today.
“He [Putin] also knows that the European army is very weak.
“Without Americans it wouldn’t be able to defeat Russia. And he sees that the American army is not going to be waging campaigns against Putin on behalf of Europe.”
The UK’s defence spending is dwarfed in comparison to the cash that the Kremlin has pumped into its military machine.
Khordokovsky said: “From this point of view, today, Europe is a temptation for Putin. A temptation, of course, not for a brutal attack but for a hybrid attack. Europe is undoubtedly a target.”
Just this week Russia’s interior ministry announced a manhunt for former British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, flagging his picture on a wanted list.
Moscow’s Basmanny district court sentenced Sir Ben in absentia on charges of “justifying terrorism”, but the grounds of the charge remain unclear.
The UK foreign office told The Sun: “The accusations made today by Russia are completely unacceptable. The UK does not stand for intimidation of its citizens.”
While the reeling dictator’s actions are increasingly volatile, Khordokovsky says there are ways to predict how he will attack.
He said: “The standard way Putin operates is to find internal conflicts that he can inflate, and he will use any available means to do that.”
Khordokovsky set out Putin’s three options for an attack on the UK.
And he warned that covert activities are already underway within Britain’s borders.
He said: “The first tool is to use special forces called the GRU – an expensive and very dangerous force.
“In the UK, their operations have been 50 per cent successful – they managed to kill Litvinenko but they were not successful in Salisbury.”
Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian FSB officer turned British intelligence agent, was murdered in London in November 2006 using rare radioactive polonium-210.
A 2016 UK inquiry concluded the poisoning was “probably approved” by Vladimir Putin, with the European Court of Human Rights later holding Russia responsible.
Two years later, three GRU agents applied novichok to the front door handle of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, south-west England.
Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned by the military grade nerve agent but survived the assassination attempt. An innocent British citizen, Dawn Sturgess, died.
Following an inquiry, former Supreme Court judge Lord Hughes concluded that the deadly plot “must have been authorised at the highest level, by President Putin“.
Despite Russia’s partial failure in the UK, their assassinations targets in other European countries like Germany “have all been successfully killed”, Khordokovsky said.
Putin’s second option for an attack in the UK is “already being prepared”.
Khordokovsky said: “It is the system of agents including foreign intelligence agents, the FSB. They will be used if there were an attack.”
This system has been seriously weakened after the UK extradited swathes of Kremlin agents following the Salisbury poisoning and Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But there is a third option, using British criminals to outsource Russian attacks via social media, Khordokovsky said.
He said: “This is the cheapest and weakest option, but it can be quite successful.”
The method has been used in the UK and is “still in use”, Khordokovsky warned.
It comes after five British men were convicted for their roles in a firebomb attack on a warehouse in Leyton, east London in 2025, used to ship humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The men acted on behalf of the Wagner Group – a proscribed terrorist organisation with links to Russian military intelligence.
About £1million worth of damage was caused in the March 2023 blaze, which was live-streamed by one of the attackers.
The plot also included plans to firebomb a Mayfair restaurant and kidnap its owner – Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin – in a campaign orchestrated online through encrypted Telegram chats.
Warning Britain faces £10bn defence gap
BRITAIN faces an annual funding shortfall of up to £10 billion to be battle-ready in the fight against Russia, a new report warns.
The military must be ready for a high-intensity conflict in Europe in urban and drone warfare expected in any confrontation, the study says.
The intervention comes after NATO boss Mark Rutte said Moscow could attack a member of the military alliance within the next five years.
Andrew Fox, from the Henry Jackson Society, argues that if Britain is drawn into conflict it lacks equipment, stockpiles and training infrastructure to prevail.
The former Parachute Regiment Major said: “If Britain ends up in a conflict with Russia, we will face exactly these conditions – and right now, we are not ready.
“Our modelling shows a £7–£10 billion annual gap between what the Army needs and what current funding provides. The Government’s budget does nothing to close it.”
It follows the head of the Royal Navy General Sir Gwyn Jenkins pleading to the Treasury to match the cash spend by the UK’s enemies.
Labour has put off meeting 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence until later on in 2027.
Ministers have pledged to spend 3 per cent in the next Parliament.
An Ministry of Defence spokesperson, commenting on the study, said: “This government is delivering the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War – with a £5bn boost last year and hitting 2.6% of GDP by 2027, a level not seen since 2010.
“The Spending Review set out a historic real terms increase in the MOD’s budget which will see over £270 billion invested into defence across this parliament, meaning no return to the hollowed out and underfunded armed forces of the past.
“Through the Strategic Defence Review we are learning the lessons of the war in Ukraine, which is why we’re surging investment into drone and counter drone systems.
“The Government is also bolstering the UK’s readiness and resilience, signing over 1,000 major contracts, increasing our spend with British businesses and building six state-of-the art munitions factories, helping us to create an ‘always on’ munitions system, which resupplies our stocks.”
The ringleaders, Dylan Earl and Jake Reeves, admitted to acting on behalf of the Wagner Group and became the first people convicted under the UK’s new National Security Act 2023.
Prosecutors said the case illustrated how Moscow was willing to exploit the UK’s openness for strategic gain.
Khordokovsky warned that the UK must prepare for further attacks.
He laughed off recent intelligence suggesting a coup from Russia’s elite could oust Putin from power as “an absolutely humorous statement that has nothing to do with reality”.
It comes as Putin was forced to scale back his flagship Victory Day parade on Moscow’s red square earlier this month over fears of a Ukrainian attack.
Following the humiliating climb-down, the Russian tyrant hinted his war with Ukraine was “coming to a close”.
But he rallied against Western elites for disregarding Moscow’s interests and for mistakenly expecting Russia’s collapse.
Khordokovsky said: “I think that unfortunately it is more likely that Putin will stay in power for five, seven or even 10 years. All these years will be in a state of cold war and the main goal is to prevent it from becoming hot war.”
To do that the UK must boost its defences and show its strength against Russia.
He said: “I am absolutely convinced that in today’s world no country can afford to look defenceless.”
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