The world is entering a new nuclear age with a proliferation of weapons and the near collapse of a set of rules to control their use, the head of the UK armed forces has warned.

In his starkest ever public remarks, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin accused Russia of making “wild threats of tactical nuclear use” as well as conducting “large-scale nuclear exercises and simulated attacks against NATO countries”.

The chief of the defence staff also highlighted China’s nuclear build-up, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and North Korea’s ballistic missile programme and “erratic behaviour”. He said Pyongyang presents “a regional and, increasingly, a global threat”.

Admiral Radakin, previously better known as an optimist, said his job was to “stiffen the nation’s resolve” in the face of growing security risks.

“The outlook is more contested, more ambiguous and more dangerous than we have known in our careers,” he said in an annual lecture at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.

“Nowhere is this more apparent than in the nuclear domain.”

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He said the first nuclear age was during the Cold War, defined by two opposing blocs governed by the risk of uncontrollable escalation and the logic of deterrence.

The second nuclear age was characterised by global disarmament efforts and counter-proliferation.

“But we are at the dawn of a third nuclear age which is altogether more complex. It is defined by multiple and concurrent dilemmas, proliferating nuclear and disruptive technologies, and the almost total absence of the security architectures that went before.”

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He said this is why the UK’s nuclear-armed submarines – continuously at sea – are so vital.

“The UK’s nuclear deterrent is the one part of our inventory of which Russia is most aware and has more impact on [President Vladimir] Putin than anything else.”

While underlining the threats, Admiral Radakin was careful to stress that he did not believe the UK was on the brink of war.

“There is only a remote chance of a significant direct attack or invasion by Russia on the United Kingdom,” he said.

“It is the same for the whole of NATO. Russia knows the response would be overwhelming, whether conventional or nuclear. The strategy of deterrence by NATO works and is working. But it has to be kept strong and strengthened against a more dangerous Russia.”