Speculation about Putin's assassination is 'wishful thinking', says military chief

dailystar.co.uk:

Ukraine in February, could be “toppled” or face “regime change”. But he told Sophie Raworth on BBC One’s Sunday Morning show: “I think some of the comments that he’s not well or that actually surely somebody’s going to assassinate him or take him out, I think they’re wishful thinking.READ MORE: Killer mum jailed for life after murdering son, 2, and leaving note saying 'sorry' “As military professionals we see a relatively stable regime in Russia, President Putin has been able to quash any opposition, we see a hierarchy that is invested in President Putin and so nobody at the top has got the motivation to challenge President Putin, and that is bleak.”He said the “challenge of Russia is going to endure” potentially for “decades in terms of Russia as a threat”, and the next prime minister should know that Russia is “the biggest threat” to the UK.He added: “So the biggest threat is Russia, and that’s Russia in all its guises when you look at it militarily.“Its land forces are probably less of a threat in the short term because of that degradation, that depletion that we’re seeing with their struggle in Ukraine.“But Russia continues to be a nuclear power, it’s got cyber capabilities, it’s got space capabilities, and it’s got particular programmes under water so it can threaten the underwater cables that allow the world’s information to transit around the whole globe.”On what Britain’s armed forces would look like if defence spending increased to 3% of GDP, he said: “I think they would be even more modern and they would have even more punch and they would have even more impact around the world, and that’s clearly a choice for government.”Reflecting on a recent visit to Kyiv, he said Ukraine’s army “absolutely” believed it will.