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The damage that could be done to Britain by Russia’s hybrid warfare is “very real”, an expert told Sky News.

Arsalan Bilal, who works at the center for peace studies at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, says Russia “has been unleashing its hybrid warfare against the West for decades.”

“We are talking about Russia combining military and non-military strategies in a sophisticated way so that it does not happen randomly,” he says.

He calls the war in Ukraine a “classic case of Russian hybrid warfare against the West.”

“It is a war aimed at undermining Western security,” he added.

This month, Russia was accused by European governments of escalating hybrid attacks on Ukraine’s Western allies after two fiber optic telecommunications cables were severed in the Baltic Sea.

When asked about this, Mr Bilal said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Russia.

“That is classic sabotage where you do something indirectly or directly, but deny involvement. Consider, for example, the attack on Nord Stream and the attack on undersea cables in Europe.”

He says that in terms of how much damage hybrid warfare could do to Britain, taken on its own, “you wouldn’t conclude much”.

“But overall, the damage is very real. It is long lasting and goes far beyond what we can see with the naked eye,” he warns.