Brit troops fly out as Putin steps up threat
ESTONIA: British troops began a long-term deployment to Estonia yesterday as Germany’s intelligence chief warned that Russia has launched a dramatic and potentially threatening military build-up on its Western border.
An advanced contingent of 120 British soldiers, from the 5th Battalion The Rifles, landed at the country’s Amari airbase late on Friday night (local time).
Eight hundred British troops, with Challenger 2 tanks, AS90 selfpropelled guns and Warrior armoured vehicles, will eventually be based in the town of Tapa, 130km from the Russian border, from next month.
The deployment is part of what Nato is calling an ‘‘enhanced forward presence’’, designed to reassure eastern allies and deter Russia from attempting a repeat of its invasions of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine in the Baltic.
‘‘In the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, Nato is stepping up its commitment to collective defence,’’ said Michael Fallon, the defence secretary.
The troops will take part in exercises alongside the Estonian armed forces and in larger regional drills co-ordinated with other Nato contingents deployed to Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. The UK is also contributing 150 troops to the US-battle group in Poland.
Mikk Marran, the head of Estonia’s intelligence agency, said last month that troops could be targeted by ‘‘honey traps’’, drawn into staged pub brawls or see their social media accounts hacked for blackmail by Russian agents in an effort to discredit British soldiers.
The troops’ arrival came as Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), told Der Speigel yesterday: ‘‘Russia has doubled its fighting power on its Western border, which cannot be considered as defensive against the West.’’
Last year, Russia created two new infantry divisions on its Western Military District, which borders the Baltics, in what it described as a response to a Nato build-up in the region.
It has also deployed nuclearcapable Iskander missiles in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, advanced missile carrying corvettes, and aircraft to the region.
While the tanks and other vehicles brought by the British, US, German, and Canadian-led battle groups will plug a key hole in the host countries’ military capabilities, some experts have questioned whether it amounts to a credible deterrent.
The four battle groups amount only to a single heavy brigade. A report by the Rand Corporation in 2016 estimated that at least three such brigades would be needed to deter a possible Russian attack in the Baltic region. The same report estimated that Russia can muster 22 battalions from its Western military district, which it estimated would be ‘‘more than enough’’ to overwhelm current Baltic defences. - Telegraph Group