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UK To Step Up Military Presence In Arctic

  Britain is to reinforce its military presence in the Arctic in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Tuesday. … Continue reading UK To Step Up Military Presence In Arctic


A handout picture released by the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) shows Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (C) hosting a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Defence Ministers meeting at at Belvoir Castle near Grantham, central England on February 22, 2022. – Defence ministers from 10 countries on Tuesday announced manoeuvres in the Baltic Sea, after talks in Britain at which they condemned Russia for its actions in Ukraine. The Joint Expeditionary Force said in a statement they would “shortly conduct an exercise demonstrating JEF nations’ freedom of movement” in the strategic zone. The JEF, set up in 2012, is made up of NATO members Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom, and non-members Finland and Sweden. (Photo by Sgt Jimmy Wise / MOD / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT ” AFP PHOTO / CROWN COPYRIGHT 2022 / MOD ” – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS – NO ARCHIVE – TO BE USED WITHIN 2 DAYS FROM February 22, 2022, DATE (48 HOURS), EXCEPT FOR MAGAZINES WHICH CAN PRINT THE PICTURE WHEN FIRST REPORTING ON THE EVENT /
File photo: A handout picture released by the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) shows Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (C) hosting a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Defence Ministers meeting at at Belvoir Castle near Grantham, central England on February 22, 2022.  (Photo by Sgt Jimmy Wise / MOD / AFP)

 

Britain is to reinforce its military presence in the Arctic in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Tuesday.

The region “is important for our communications, it is important for our trade and our travels, it is important for our freedoms,” said Wallace as he visited troops at Bardufoss in Norway, a cold weather training base for Royal Air Force, British Army and Royal Navy helicopter crews.

The Russian operation in Ukraine means London must step up its land and sea surveillance in the region, Wallace told a press conference, underlining “a commitment to increase the amount of surveying we do across the sea and land.

“We are going to effectively, permanently, have a … Marine strike group permanently … active in the Nordics,” said Wallace as he underlined British commitment to protecting “our infrastructure, the cables that we see Russia target to make us vulnerable”.

Britain participates in biennial exercises with partners in the North Atlantic but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen the area take on added strategic importance.

Wallace’s Norwegian counterpart Odd Roger Enoksen said that his country, as a member of NATO but also a neighbour of Russia, “wants more allied activity up North”.

He further noted, “The UK is our most important ally in Europe.”

Some 30,000 troops from 25 NATO countries as well as non-member partners Sweden and Finland are currently on manoeuvres in Norway’s far north, testing the alliance’s capacity to defend against aggression.

AFP