Russian aggression against Ukraine was one of the major drivers of the UK security reassessment in 2015, which aimed to put an end to the period of defence spending cuts and openly acknowledged the resurgence of state-based threats. Moreover, the 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review introduced a whole range of steps to counter this aggression, with special attention to the potential of NATO and other multilateral fora.
While public debate before the adoption of the 2015 National Security Strategy largely concentrated on the need to
overcome the serious shortcomings of the 2010 strategic documents, only half a year later Brexit posed entirely new challenges to the future of the British security environment and choices, inviting a rethink of the strategy
once again. In the realm of practical politics Russia-related security policies followed the documents quite closely and the UK’s was one of the most consistent responses within NATO.