The United Kingdom will send 350 additional soldiers to Poland amid Russian-Western tensions around Ukraine, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace announced on Monday (February 7th).
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These troops are in addition to the 100 soldiers of the British Royal Engineers already present in the country, who had been sent to deal with the influx of migrants to the Polish border with Belarus.
The deployment of 350 additional British soldiers aims to "
show that we can work together and send a strong signal that Britain and Poland stand side by side
", Ben Wallace told a press conference in London with his Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak.
These soldiers will work in cooperation with the Polish army to "
reinforce security, particularly with regard to threats at the border
", specified the Polish minister.
Russian aggression in Ukraine?
The announcement of the deployment comes amid growing fears that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine, with the West accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of massing more than 100,000 troops on the border between the two countries.
Russia denies plans to invade the country, but has demanded major security guarantees from the West, including that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO.
The British Minister of Defense underlined the defensive character of the Atlantic Alliance, and that a Russian aggression in Ukraine would be counter-productive for Moscow, insofar as it would lead to "
more NATO, precisely what the President Putin does not want to
”.
