UK Officials Call for Military Dialogue With Russia to Be Restored

British defense officials are calling for direct contacts between the military leadership of the United Kingdom and Russia to be restored amid concerns about escalation.

The Times reported the matter.

The situation has escalated following a series of incidents involving British and Russian military personnel.

The last known conversation between Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and his British counterpart took place in September 2022. At the time, Gerasimov spoke with the then-Chief of the Defence Staff Adm. Sir Tony Radakin.

Radakin subsequently tried several times to contact Gerasimov, but the Russian side did not respond to his calls. After Richard Knighton was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff, he also tried to establish contact with Gerasimov, but without success.

In June, the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired warning shots from small arms at a British yacht in the English Channel, after which the crew changed course.

Another incident occurred near the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in the Norwegian Sea. The Russian Tu-142 Yuri Malinin approached the ship at an unsafe distance while flying at low altitude. According to the British side, the aircraft also dropped a large number of surveillance devices into the water near the British aircraft carrier.

Former UK defense attaché to Moscow and Kyiv, John Foreman, said that Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting and Chief of the Defence Staff Richard Knighton should restore direct contacts with the Russian military leadership.

According to him, even in the absence of a political agreement, the military should maintain communication channels to resolve dangerous incidents.

UK Secretary of State for Defence Wes Streeting, July 21, 2026. Photo: Jack Taylor/Reuters

The lack of direct communication is not the only problem. In 2024, the United Kingdom expelled a Russian defense attaché, accusing him of working for Russian intelligence. In response, Moscow expelled the UK military attaché, Adrian Coghill.

The two sides previously maintained a dedicated hotline between the UK Ministry of Defence and the Russian Presidential Situation Center. It still exists but is used less frequently than before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The UK government says London is ready for dialogue with the Russian military leadership, but Moscow has so far shown no willingness to restore that dialogue.