On the brink of WW3?

He has warned Brits: "Be under no illusion whatsoever – Russian use of nuclear weapons is hardwired in Moscow’s military strategy.”

It comes just days after the Kremlin revealed it is working on "Satan 2” – a nuclear weapon so powerful it could obliterate an entire nation.

Even if a full-blown conventional conflict breaks out it will not be long before your call up papers fall through the letterbox.

Daily Star Online has already exclusively revealed how Putin has ten times more nuclear weapons than Nato.

And in the past year alone, Russia sent a record number of submarines to the British coast as fears of a rekindled Cold War reach boiling point.

Shirreff has made the claim in a book released today called "2017 War With Russia”

He also claims Nato is increasingly lacking the capability and military hardware to match Russia’s capabilties.

Shireff speculates about a scenario where Russia will seize territory in eastern Ukraine and create a land corridor to Crimea which will help them invade the Baltic states.

He says Russian president Vladimir Putin is the West's most dangerous enemy, and believes his ambitions can only be halted if the US and UK wake up to the possibility of war and take steps to prevent it.

In 2014 the internationally recognised Ukrainian territory of Crimea was seized by Russia’s President Putin after the Ukraine had opened a new trade deal with the EU.

Shirreff was the deputy supreme allied commander in Europe between 2011 to 2014.

He served in Northern Ireland, the first Gulf War and the War in Iraq.

(dailystar.co.uk)