UK ready to commit additional forces for NATO allies as tension mounts with Russia | Ukraine

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The UK has offered to deploy land, air and sea forces to bolster the defense of NATO countries on their northern and eastern borders as tensions over Russia’s military ambitions in Ukraine escalate.

Boris Johnson is expected to hold talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week and visit the region, despite intense domestic pressure over a possible leadership challenge following the partygate scandal.

Johnson said the extra resources were a sign of Britain’s commitment to its Nordic and Baltic allies, and come after US President Joe Biden pledged on Friday to send a small number of US troops to the countries of Eastern Europe and NATO “in the short term”. ”.

The decision was intended to “send a clear message to the Kremlin,” Johnson said in a statement. “We will not tolerate their destabilizing activity and we will always stand with our NATO allies in the face of Russian hostility.”

Deployments included sending two warships to the Black Sea, increasing the number of troops and providing rocket systems to Estonia on the Russian border, and deploying fast jets to patrol Romanian airspace. and Bulgarian from a base in Cyprus, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.

British officials will travel to Brussels this week to finalize details of military support. Johnson asked defense and security chiefs to step up their efforts in Europe and asked his foreign and defense secretaries to travel to Moscow to meet their Russian counterparts.

In the UK, the Chief of the Defense Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, will brief the cabinet on Tuesday on the Ukraine crisis.

On Friday, senior US officials urged a focus on diplomacy while saying Russia now has enough troops and equipment to threaten the whole of Ukraine. Mark Milley, America’s top general, warned that a Russian invasion would be “horrific” for both sides and “would result in a significant number of casualties”.

The US and UK have withdrawn staff and families from embassies in Kyiv, and UK travel advice now warns against all but essential travel to the country.

The Foreign Office is also expected to announce tougher sanctions on Monday, meaning the UK can target Russia’s strategic and financial interests – despite US concerns over the scale of Russian money” dirty” in London.

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