UK Defense Minister Michael Fallon has announced a big military build up in Estonia, including over 100 pieces of artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), according to a report by Southfront.
Fallon himself claimed that the build up is “one of the biggest military deployments in Eastern Europe since the cold war.” The UK defense ministry called the exercise, “one of the largest ever NATO deployments.”
The troops and equipment arriving include 80o British troops and “Titan, Terrier and Trojan armored battlefield engineer vehicles… Challenger 2 tanks and the Warrior infantry fighting vehicle.”
The reinforcements will join about 100 British soldiers already present in Estonia.
Well, surely the “biggest since the cold war” military build up directly on Russia’s border is not at all provocative and will be interpreted by Moscow as a harmless peaceful exercise.
Right?
More details from the Southfront report:
Dozens of self-propelled artillery guns, tanks and other military hardware have started to arrive in Estonia from Germany and the UK. According to UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, this is the largest deployment of NATO forces in Eastern Europe since the times of the Cold War.
As the UK Ministry of Defence reported, first of hundreds of UK military vehicles have arrived from ports in Britain and Germany to Estonia on Wednesday. The military hardware was delivered by a ferry.
According to the ministry’s statement, the military hardware, which includes the Titan, Terrier and Trojan armored battlefield engineer vehicles, the Challenger 2 tanks and the Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, will be sent to a military base in Tapa.
Reportedly, the main goal of the delivery is to support a British battle group in Estonia. The UK Defense Ministry stressed that it is “one of the largest ever NATO deployments” to the region.
“This is the start of one of the biggest deployment in Eastern Europe since the Cold War,” Fallon said and added that there will be “800 British troops, with armor, with tanks” in Estonia, close to Russia’s borders, by the end of April.
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