(June 30)UK Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt claimed the British-led Joint Expeditionary Force a rapid response unit has reached a new scale as the British Navy held its largest drills in the Baltic region in more than a century.
Exercise meant to reassure NATO Baltic region allies of support
The huge exercise included nearly 4,000 people and 44 vessels from nine nations. Mordaunt was speaking to reporters at the Lithanian port of Klaipeda which is just a short distance from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. The exercise is said to be designed to show the nations involved are aligned and ready."
Mordaunt said: "Russia is becoming more assertive, we see her deploying more forces and new weapons, and we can imagine scenarios that may play out in the future. So it is important and right that we stand together with our allies."
In a separate interview with Baltic News Service, Mordaunt claimed that Britain wanted to do more to build security and resilience in the Baltic States and the region and this included exercises and regular but declined to give further details.
UK Defense Secretary visit to Lithuania happens as PM May meets Putin
Mordaunt' visit to Lithuania a severe critic of Russia, came just as outing UK PM Theresa May was meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin. May said that normal relations with Russia will not be restored until Russia ends its irresponsible and destabilising activity according to spokesperson for May.
Apparently the huge drills right on the border with Russia and involving countries such as Lithuania that could easily be seen as a threat to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad are not to be perceived as a threat. The UK is far away from the area. Imagine if Russia and allies staged a similar exercise in waters off the UK. As shown on the appended video NATO has just finished a large operation BALTOPS in the region as well with the US involved. Perhaps the two operations were conjoint.
Previously published in the Digital Journal
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