UK to Send Troops to Baltic States

• 10.09.2015, 15:58
•  Europe,  World

Britain is to station troops in the Baltic states to shore up NATO’s eastern borders and deter Russian aggression, the UK Defense Secretary, Michael Fallon, said.

According to the Guardian, Fallon announced the commitment upon arrival at the quarterly meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels. The deployment is intended to provide further reassurance to former Soviet bloc members in light of increased tension between Russia and Ukraine.

''This is further reassurance for our allies on the eastern flank of Nato – for the Baltic states and for Poland,'' said Fallon. ''That is part of our more persistent presence on the eastern side of NATO to respond to any further provocation and aggression.''

He said the British troops would be ''part of a more persistent presence by NATO forces'' in the region.

The matter is that the Russians insist they are targeting Islamic State (IS) extremists - also referred to as ISIL - but Western powers say they have largely hit mainstream opposition forces.

As the Daily Mail reports, the West believes the air strikes are primarily designed to prop up the regime of President Bashar Assad, who Western countries insist must go as part of any political settlement of Syria's four-year civil war.

"Russia is making a very serious situation in Syria much more dangerous," Mr Fallon said.

"We will be calling on Russia specifically to stop propping up the Assad regime, to use their influence constructively to stop Assad bombing his own civilians and themselves to avoid the use of unguided munitions in areas that are not being controlled by Isil," Mr Fallon said.

"If Russia wants to help here, the single most helpful thing they can do is use their influence on Assad to stop barrel-bombing his own civilians, their children, his own cities and villages. That's how Russia could help to resolve this conflict."

There is not any official reaction to all these statements by the Russian part yet, though they won’t get much surprised taking into account the fact that such talks began even earlier and were initiated by the Baltic States themselves, when the leaders of the latter were asking NATO to help them send troops against Russian possible aggression. Now there is already a fact - NATO after all does send the needed troops.