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Ukraine crisis: British consider troop increases in Baltics and Poland

2022-01-21T09:56:01.791Z


A Russian invasion of Ukraine should be prevented – Prime Minister Johnson and Chancellor Scholz agreed on this during a telephone call. The Briton is apparently relying on a deterrent strategy.


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British soldiers during maneuvers

Photo: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson jointly demand that there should be no military aggression by Russia against Ukraine.

It must be clear that Moscow would then have to reckon with considerable and serious costs, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit reported on a phone call between the two.

The West has been threatening Moscow with massive sanctions for weeks if the Russian army attacks Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently in Europe looking for a diplomatic way out of the crisis.

This Friday he will meet his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov in Geneva.

The British government is apparently considering sending hundreds more soldiers to the Baltic States and Poland.

This is intended to increase deterrence against Russia, the Times reported, citing a source at the Ministry of Defense in London.

830 British soldiers are currently stationed in Estonia, and another 140 as part of a NATO mission in Poland. The additional units could be deployed quickly should NATO allies in Eastern Europe face an increased Russian troop presence on their border, the source quoted the paper as saying. According to the newspaper, around 100 British soldiers are currently deployed in Ukraine as part of a training mission. About 30 others were recently dispatched to train the Ukrainian army in the use of around 2,000 anti-tank missiles that London was sending to Ukraine.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, meanwhile, warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against making a "huge strategic mistake".

Russia will have to pay a high price for a Russian attack on Ukraine, Truss said in a speech in Sydney, Australia on Friday.

"We are prepared to impose significant sanctions," Truss said.

The Kremlin has not learned from history and is trying to restore the Soviet Union or some kind of Greater Russia, Truss said.

An invasion of Ukraine would "only result in a terrible mess and loss of life, as we know from the Soviet-Afghan war and the conflict in Chechnya," she warned.

as /dpa/AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-01-21

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