UK to Send 20,000 Troops to NATO 

Sudan Events – Sumaya Sayed

In a speech Monday, the defence secretary is expected to announce the deployment of the army, navy and RAF personnel to the 31-nation Steadfast Defender military exercise across Europe.

The UK will send 20,000 troops to one of NATO’s biggest military drills since the Cold War as the alliance practices repelling an invasion by Russian forces, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is expected to announce today.

Army, navy and RAF personnel will be deployed to the 31-nation Steadfast Defender exercise in a bid to provide “vital reassurance against the menace” of Vladimir Putin, Mr Shapps will say in a speech.

The defence secretary will also warn the West stands at a “crossroads” as he unveils the UK’s contribution to the war games in an address at Lancaster House.

Mr Shapps echoed warnings from his cabinet colleague Lord Cameron, who said on Sunday “the lights are absolutely flashing red on the global dashboard” due to “so much danger and insecurity and instability in the world”.

“Not only have you got the state, so Putins of this world and Iran, but you’ve also now got the non-state actors as well, that sort of terrorism that we saw [at] the beginning of this century, individual actors,” said the defence secretary.

“And because of that, this is a more unstable and difficult world. And that’s really the big theme of the speech that I’m making this morning.”