Prince to join biggest war games against Russia

PRINCE Harry will take part in one of Britain’s biggest 12-week-long war games against a Russian invasion, The Mirror reported, citing military and Royal sources.

Although the 34-year-old Duke of Sussex left the Armed Forces in June 2015, he will join some 1 000 Marines in Norway to “protect” Europe’s northern flank in the event of military strikes by Moscow, said the report.

Prince Harry, who served in Afghanistan, reportedly told his confidants that he was thrilled to be back in the military fold.

The Royal Marines left for Norway on New Year’s Day from their base at Bickleigh Barracks in Devon.

Some 8 000 troops will be involved in the exercise, including soldiers from Europe and the US.

In late September, UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that Britain sought to boost its military presence in the Arctic this year amid concerns about “Russian aggression”.

He said the personnel would be sent to Norway every winter for the next decade alongside US and Dutch marines, as well as Norwegian troops.

Tensions between Russia and the UK have been simmering since London accused Moscow of staging the poisoning attack on former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last March. Moscow has consistently denied the allegations.

In early October, the British government also alleged that the GRU (Russia’s intelligence) was behind a series of cyberattacks on political institutions, media outlets, and infrastructure across the globe, including the UK.

Russia dismissed the accusations as a crude disinformation campaign.

Most recently, Williamson sent HMS Echo, a Royal Navy ship, to the Black Sea to show London’s “solidarity” with Ukraine in the wake of a naval incident in the Kerch Strait, when three Ukrainian warships violated Russia’s maritime border.

While Williamson said that the move was a response to Russia’s “intensifying threats and aggression”, the Russian Embassy in London accused the secretary of instigating Kiev to new military provocations. |