Thursday, June 5, 2014

Britain offers tanks and 1,000 troops for Nato show of strength against Putin

Ben Farmer
London Telegraph
June 5, 2014
 
Volunteer soldiers of the British Armies Royal Wessex Yeomanry  training with top military assets such as Challenger mark II Tanks and Royal Air Force Chinook helicopters on Salisbury Plain Wiltshire, Britain on 07 March 2014
Photo: GEOFF MOORE/REX
Britain has offered Nato an armoured battle group including up to 25 tanks to join exercises in Poland as a show of force against Vladimir Putin.

The deployment would see as many as 1,000 British soldiers join Nato forces for war games across the border from Ukraine later this year.

The offer was disclosed as David Cameron prepares to meet the Russian president on Thursday and wrangling over the Ukraine crisis seems certain to dominate world leaders’ visits to the D-Day anniversary events.

The diplomatic storm over Ukraine continued as Barack Obama condemned Moscow’s “dark tactics”, while Mr Putin hit back against American aggression.