Obsessed Vladimir Putin may be planning to launch an invasion of the Baltic states – dragging Britain into a Europe-wide war, the Defence Secretary warned today.
Ben Wallace said the Russian leader “won’t stop” at Ukraine, with NATO members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia likely next in the firing line.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Wallace said: “Putin is not rational. He won’t stop after he’s [finished]... with Ukraine. He will use everything in the Baltic states. And we will have to stand up to it.”
His comments came as the UK doubled the number of troops in Estonia, with armoured vehicles from the Royal Welsh Battle Group pictured heading there via Latvia.
Britain is also sending tanks as part of NATO’s increased presence in Eastern Europe.
And Navy ship HMS Diamond set sail for the Mediterranean from Portsmouth as worried relatives waved off their loved ones.
The Type 45 destroyer will join offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent with four additional RAF Typhoon jets also deployed to Cyprus.
The family of Chief Petty Officer Sean Baldwin, 35, from nearby Havant, watched as the ship began its journey, with his children heard calling out: “Love you, Daddy”.
And CPO Baldwin’s proud mum, Beverley Baldwin, said: “We are quite apprehensive.
“We’ve just got to support him and hope they all come back safe.”
There is also a British presence in Poland. But Mr Wallace repeated Britain would not send personnel to Ukraine, as that would also spark a much wider conflict.
He said: “We’ve always supported Ukraine’s application to NATO over the last 15 years, not every country has wanted them to join.
“We’ve done the next best thing, which is train over 20,000 Ukrainians, provided them with lethal capabilities, which they are using right now. But I’m not putting British troops directly to fight Russian troops. That would trigger a European war, because we are a NATO country.”
Mr Wallace also insisted it would not be possible to create a no-fly zone as that would “put British fighter jets directly against Russian fighter jets”. The Baltic states have a turbulent history. They were occupied by the Soviet Red Army from 1944 having previously being invaded by the Nazis. In the late 1980s, there was a huge campaign of resistance dubbed the Singing Revolution.
Under Soviet leader Mikael Gorbachev, the process of independence started, and the last Russian troops left in 1994. As with Ukraine, Putin has long regarded Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as part of Russia, and never accepted their integration into the EU.
And now he has shown his contempt for world opinion, the people there have reason to be scared, despite their NATO status.
