With Russia
conducting an endless series of military exercises and doing nothing to
alleviate fears that it is poised to invade the Baltic States, the United
Kingdom has become the latest of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
nations to send troops and war materiel to help bolster the organization’s most
vulnerable members to try and avert a potential World War 3.
The Sun reported this week that the British
Ministry of Defence announced at NATO headquarters in Brussels that the United
Kingdom would be sending 800 troops to Estonia, the largest troop deployment to
the Russian border since the end of the Cold War. Along with the troops, the
British will also deploy tanks and drones.
The Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania — have been imploring its NATO allies to provide military assistance
to thwart a threatening Russia ever since the Russian Federation annexed
Crimea, militarily occupying the territory that was recognized as part of
Ukraine, in 2014. Military exercises being held just across the border have
only accentuated the fears, and the recent transfer of nuclear missiles to just
across the border from Lithuania seemed to make matters somewhat worse.
It also has not helped the Baltic State mindset
that, as has been recounted by the Inquisitr, think tanks like the Atlantic
Council have issued reports that have warned that a Russian invasion would
likely begin with a swift military sweep with “no warning time” through the
Baltic States and into neighboring Poland. And former NATO Supreme Allied
Commander Philip Breedlove warned in September that Russia’s military was more
than capable of overwhelming an inadequately defended Europe.
Given that the Baltic States were once
considered part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the
predecessor of the Russian Federation, there are present fears that a
re-militarized Russia might harbor dreams of re-assuming the boundaries of its
former empire.
“I am confirming details today of our
deployment as part of the forward presence in Estonia next year,” U.K. Defence
Secretary Michael Fallon stated, “a full sized British battalion with light
armour, Challenger 2 tanks, Warriors vehicles, French and Danish companies in
support. That deployment will begin next spring [May]”.
Fallon said that the United Kingdom was
“stepping up in NATO, beefing up the reassurance that we are able to offer. Although
we are leaving the European Union, we will be doing more to help secure the
eastern and southern flanks of NATO.”
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