UK labels Russia top security threat, issues warning on China, and promises to build more nuclear warheads

Russia is Britain's top security challenge, the UK will build more nuclear weapons and London will expand its presence in the high-tech realms of space and cyberspace, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Tuesday in a sweeping review of British military and foreign policy. To accomplish its goals, the British government wants to increase defense spending by £24 billion ($33.3 billion) over the next four years, a large increase on the £42.2 billion it spent in 2019-2020.

The government also pledged tens of billions of pounds in investment in other areas, including £15 billion for research and development for science and technology, more than £17 billion to fight climate change and promote biodiversity, and £13 billion in the fight against the coronavirus.

The document reaffirms the UK's defense and economic partnerships with the US as its most important in the world, and it makes a strong commitment to the NATO alliance but pledges to expand Britain's role worldwide, recognizing a tilt toward the Indo-Pacifc in the coming decade. From that region, it calls out challenges posed by China.

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