Speaking at St Andrews University on the subject of ‘Russian Resurgence’, Sir Michael said Vladimir Putin sought to increase its sphere of influence and weaken NATO through “weaponising misinformation“.
He urged NATO to do more to combat the threat of “Soviet-style misinformation” with a “faster truth”.
Sir Michael said: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting its boots on.”
He echoed President Trump’s plea for NATO members to demonstrate their commitment to the alliance by meeting the 2% minimum spend on defence pledge. This will allow NATO to more effectively counter modern threats such cyber attacks.
Sir Michael said: “Cyber defence is now part of NATO’s core task. NATO must defend itself as effectively in the cyber sphere as it does in the air, on land, and at sea. So adversaries know there is a price to pay if they use cyber weapons.”
The UK has doubled its spending on defensive and offensive cyber capability to £1.9Bn.
Sir Michael backed President’s Trump’s call for greater engagement with Russia.
He said: “They must talk to preserve the rules based international system underpinning our security and prosperity. The UK too needs to engage with Russia, including military to military.”
A Kremlin spokesman responded to Sir Michael’s comments: “We’re very disappointed that minister Fallon is so aggressively disposed, we are sure that such an accusation against our country is unfounded.
“We don’t see how a minister that has such a senior post can carry out such unfounded accusations that are based on nothing at all.
“We hope that in time, Great Britain will in some way take a constructive approach that will lead to a normalisation in relations between our two countries.”
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Cyber defence NATO President Trup Russia Sir Michael Fallon Vladimir Putin