David Cameron's warning shot to Putin: PM orders troops to Ukraine as Russia tensions grow
DAVID Cameron yesterday raised the stakes with Russia by ordering 75 British troops to war-torn Ukraine to help boost its military effort.
The men and women are being sent as advisers and trainers to bolster the Ukraine’s medical, logistics, infantry and intelligence capacity against Russian-backed rebels.
The prime minister did not rule out increasing support to Kiev if Russian-backed land grabs continue.
But he stressed that he does not believe there is a military solution to the crisis.
And, as he called for tougher sanctions against Russia, he warned that failure to stand up to President Putin would put other former Warsaw Pact nations at risk.
He again raised the prospect of Britain having to fight to protect fellow Nato members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
He told the all-party Commons Liaison Committee: “Putin absolutely knows we would stand by our Article 5 obligations. If a country in Nato is attacked – an attack on one is an attack on all. I stand by that completely.
“Putin absolutely knows Nato is rock solid and if he attacks a Nato country he would have a response from the whole of Nato.”
He added: “In the medium to long term the countries of Europe depend on a rules-based system where people obey the rules, and the instability we will yield if we don’t stand up to Russia in the long term will be deeply damaging to all of us, because you will see further destabilisation - next it will be Moldova or one of the Baltic states - and that sort of instability and uncertainty will be dreadful for our economies, dreadful for our stability. That’s why Britain takes such a clear view.”
British personnel will begin to deploy in the middle of next month to the western Ukraine away from the fighting in the east near the Russian border.
The MoD said the advisory and training support “will take place in Ukraine, well away from the areas affected by the conflict in the East of the country”.
The personnel will be sent on tours of between one and six months.
Putin absolutely knows if he attacks a Nato country he would have a response from the whole of Nato
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: “In light of continued Russian-backed aggression, the UK is committed to providing additional non-lethal support to Ukraine to help them deal with the pressures they are facing.
“Today’s announcement builds upon the work that we have already undertaken through NATO and bilaterally. This will help the Ukrainian Armed Forces develop and maintain the capacity and resilience that they need.”
The deployment is in addition to current support including help with crisis management, anti-corruption, defence reform and strategic communications.
Over the past year the UK has also provided £1.2million worth of personal protective equipment, winter fuel, medical kits, winter clothing and sleeping bags to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The new deployment will include:
- assessing the training requirements of the Ukrainian infantry
- combat life support training by a Medical Short Term Training Team. The aim is to train Ukrainian medics so they can take over the training.
- helping the Ukrainians improve their military logistics and
- improving the Ukraine’s intelligence capability on the battlefield.
Mr Cameron said: “We are not at the stage of supplying lethal equipment. We have announced a whole series of non-lethal equipment, night-vision goggles, body armour, which we have already said that we will give to Ukraine.
“Over the course of the next month we are going to be deploying British service personnel to provide advice and a range of training, from tactical intelligence to logistics to medical care, which is something else they have asked for.
“We will also be developing an infantry training programme with Ukraine to improve the durability of their forces. This will involve a number of British service personnel, they will be away from the area of conflict but I think this is the sort of thing we should be helping with.”
A truce was negotiated between Kiev and the Russian-backed rebels earlier this month but it has been fragile.
Fighting continued around the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve following the deal, and Mr Cameron said he feared that sea-port Mariupol would be the next target of separatist fighters.
He told the MPs “the horrors of Debaltseve” should show Europe “who we are dealing with and how firm we need to be”.
Vowing that Britain would be “the strong pole in the tent in terms of sanctions”, he said: “It’s only a firm stand that will be taken notice of in the Kremlin.”
