The government in London is sending around 8,000 soldiers to eastern Europe to take part in exercises with British tanks and heavy artillery.

A statement by the London Ministry of Defense on Friday spoke of "one of the largest deployments since the Cold War" to "demonstrate the solidarity and strength of the British armed forces".

The soldiers are to take part in exercises "from Finland to North Macedonia" and show how much the force "has developed into a deadly, mobile and global force," said the Ministry of Defense (MoD) statement.

Jochen Buchsteiner

Political correspondent in London.

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Among other things, 72 Challenger 2 tanks, 120 Warrior infantry fighting vehicles and twelve AS90 artillery pieces are to be deployed.

During the week, soldiers from the Queen's Royal Hussars were sent to Finland to take part in the "Arrow" exercise.

They are to be integrated into a Finnish brigade, which also includes soldiers from the United States, Latvia and Estonia.

The aim is to "prevent Russian aggression in Scandinavia and the Baltic States".

In May, soldiers from the Royal Welsh Battlegroup and the Royal Tank Regiment are scheduled to take part in the "Hedgehog" exercise near the Estonian-Latvian border, along with 18,000 NATO soldiers from the Forward Presence unit.

The exercise is the largest of its kind in Estonia and takes place every four years.

Parallel to the Hedgehog exercise, the ongoing exercise in Poland will last until the end of May.

In addition to 1,000 soldiers from the King's Royal Hussars Battlegroup and the Light Dragoons, eleven other NATO countries are taking part in this exercise (“Defender”).

Challenger 2 tanks and other combat vehicles, which are stored in the British location Sennelager near Paderborn, are also to be used there.

London had recently reversed the withdrawal it had already decided to take and, in the light of Russian aggression, decided to continue using Sennelager, primarily for the stationing of heavy weapons.

The "Swift Response" exercise has already begun in North Macedonia, in which 4,500 soldiers from France, America, Italy and Albania are taking part, along with 2,500 British soldiers, including those from the 16th Air Aussault British Combat Team and the 1st

"The security of Europe has never been more important," Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Friday.

"With operations across Europe, the British Army will stand alongside its partners, combining our capabilities with our shared values ​​and delivering peace and security." , such as has not been seen in Europe in this century.”

According to newspaper reports, American and French nuclear-powered submarines have anchored at the British nuclear weapons site in Faslane.

Apparently they are to take part in an exercise in the North Atlantic in the coming weeks.

On Thursday, Wallace compared Russia to a "cancer" in Ukraine that needed to be removed.

Britain must ensure that Russian President Putin withdraws from all areas of Ukraine.

Secretary of State Liz Truss had also called for this.

In a keynote speech, she demanded that Russia be expelled “from all of Ukraine”.

It was understood that London also wants the Russian withdrawal from Crimea, which has been occupied since 2014.