British army has been urgently scrambled to Russia’s doorstep, as the walls appear to be closing in on Vladimir Putin.
NewsOnline understands that Defence Minister James Heappey confirmed this afternoon that further British armed forces are being deployed to Estonia “earlier than planned”, in order to double up the UK presence there. The troops will be stationed there “indefinitely” to “reassure one of our closest NATO allies”.
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In response to an Urgent Question, Mr Heappey said: “In addition to the Royal Tank Regiment battle group that has been in place in Estonia for the last six months, the Royal Welsh battlegroup will be arriving in Estonia earlier than planned to double up our force levels and those doubled-up force levels remain indefinitely.
“They will be augmented by the headquarters of 12 Mechanised Brigade, meaning that the United Kingdom will have an armoured brigade in Estonia reassuring one of our closest Nato allies.”
However, Mr Heappey warned against “unnecessarily” escalating the conflict saying: “We must all in this House be clear that British and Nato troops should not, must not, play an active role in Ukraine.”
He added: “We must all be clear what the risk of miscalculation could be and how existential that could very quickly become if people miscalculate and things escalate unnecessarily.”
