British tanks have been pictured in war games action alongside their Nato allies as the UK warned they would come to the aid of Finland and Sweden if they were attacked by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
Challenger 2 tanks and troops from the Queen’s Royal Hussars worked alongside members of the Finnish Armoured Brigade and American, Latvian and Estonian allies in as the military alliance today flexed its muscles in response to Russian aggression.
The war games, dubbed Exercise Arrow, will see Nato troops work alongside Finnish units to improve joint responses and to improve mechanised units’ operational land viability in varied environments.
Service personnel, reservists and conscripts will also be tested on their abilities as the exercise kicked off today and will last until Friday, May 13.
Tens of thousands of Nato and Joint Expeditionary Force troops are expected to be involved in war drills across the continent this summer in the wake of Putin’s bloody invasion in Ukraine.
The developments come as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned it was ‘inconceivable’ that the UK would not ‘support’ the Scandinavian states, which have been threatened by Moscow.
Finland and its neighbour Sweden have expressed a desire to join the military pact since Putin launched his savage invasion of Ukraine in February.
Reuters reported this week that Helsinki will formally announce its bid to join on May 12 with Sweden following suit days later.
Flanking his Finnish counterpart Antti Kaikkonen on a visit to Finland to see UK troops take part in military exercises, Mr Wallace said stressed that alliances between European countries ‘make us safer’.
He told reporters it is ‘entirely for the freedom of Finland to choose’ whether it wants to become a Nato member, and added he is not going to ‘lobby or direct’ what it should do.
Mr Wallace said: ‘Do I think if Finland didn’t join Nato Britain wouldn’t come along to help? No. Britain will always be here in the Nordics, to be part of you, to help you, to support you.
‘It is inconceivable that Britain would not come to the support of Finland, or Sweden, if it was ever attacked, without any big formal agreement. We are European countries who share the same values, who have deep, long histories.
‘A significant number of the British population seem to be descended from Vikings anyhow, so we have that cultural link.
‘I cannot conceive a time when we wouldn’t come to support Finland and Sweden no matter where they were with the Nato debate or where they are with agreements.’
Finland and Sweden have historically avoided NATO membership, despite close alignment with the West, in an effort not to provoke Russia.
Both have been militarily non-aligned since the Second World War. Sweden had maintained its policy of neutrality – which had begun in the early 19th century – throughout the war wanting to avoid being drawn into a conflict that was engulfing the nearby powers of Germany and the Soviet Union.