British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday that Britain will send 350 soldiers to Poland in the near future.
Wallace, who spoke with Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak in London during the day, at a joint news conference on Monday night, said the decision was intended to send a strong message that Britain and Poland are ready to work together and in proximity to each other in the current situation.
Britain’s defense minister said that if Russia made the foolish mistake of launching military action against sovereign Ukraine, it could face harsh sanctions and isolation, and that NATO would increase its presence in the region.
Wallace added that with the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin would achieve exactly what he wanted to avoid.
He stressed that when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, it also increased the presence of advanced NATO units in Poland, Estonia and Latvia.
But he added that no one is seeking to dominate Russia or divide Russia.
The British Defense Secretary emphasized that NATO was not an offensive but a defensive organization.
Marius Blaschak thanked the British government for its military assistance at the press conference. According to the Polish Defense Minister, in addition to the Russian military march along the Ukrainian border, Poland is also facing threats from Belarus.
Referring to the migration crisis at the Polish-Belarus border in the previous months, Plaszak said that Poland was subjected to mixed attacks by Belarus, and in this case the British military unit was providing real assistance to the Polish army.
The Polish Defense Minister added, it is a historical experience that only a firm deterrence policy can prevent any possible Russian aggression, and that the same historical experience can be used to say that reconciliation encourages the potential enemy to take action.
As early as the end of January, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Britain was considering a significant increase in its military presence on the European continent, especially in Eastern Europe.
Strengthening European borders in the face of increasing Russian aggression.
Under this action plan, London is considering doubling the size of the British military contingent stationed in Estonia and sending military weapons to the Baltic Republic.
Britain currently has more than 900 soldiers in Estonia, and in Poland, hundreds of British Army technical experts are helping to bolster border control facilities on the Polish-Belarus border.
However, the British government also maintains strong diplomatic activity in the region: Boris Johnson has spoken by phone with Vladimir Putin three times in recent weeks, visited Ukraine last week, and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected to travel to Moscow this week. .
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace discussed it last week in Budapest, as well as in Slovenia and Croatia.
