British Army report calls for more robust response to Russia

[Zarvan]

Soon to be seen in Estonia? A report from the British Army's internal think-tank has called for the deployment of substantial ground forces, including armour, to Poland and the Baltic states in order to warn off Russia from any action against NATO. Source: IHS/Patrick Allen
"Substantial" NATO ground forces, backed by armour, should be dispatched to the Baltic states and Poland to provide a credible defence against a massive Russian conventional assault, according to the report of a study day involving senior British Army officers.

The report, dubbed "Is it time for the West to wake up and smell the vodka?", was posted on the British Army's website in May and comes as the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - jointly requested NATO to beef up its defence capability on their territory.

The request from the Baltic states is expected to be high up the agenda at the NATO heads of government meeting in Warsaw on 8-9 July.

The head of the British Army, General Nick Carter, and more than a dozen other senior British Army officers, including the army's head of strategy, Major General Mark Carleton-Smith, and Major General Patrick Sanders, commander of British Army's deployable rapid reaction division, as well as academic experts were present at the study day at the British Army's Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR) that looked at how to respond to a resurgent Russia.

The report from the day says NATO needs to develop responses beyond establishing rapid reaction forces at high readiness to deploy to Baltic States in time of crisis and conducting regular exercise along the alliance's eastern border. This response followed Russia's use of 'hybrid warfare' in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

"The decisive factor over the past few years has not been the strength of 'hybrid warfare', or any Russian overall military advantage, but the absence of western forces on the spot and in particular the lack of a credible threat to use them," said the report of recent events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. "Moscow could have been stopped by early action.

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