Großbritannien zur Station von Militärbeamten in Finnland als russische Truppenmesse an der Grenze

Britain is to send military officials to Finland to support the country as it faces a build-up of Russian troops on its eastern border.

A team of UK military liaison officers will join the development of the Nato alliance’s Forward Land Forces (FLF) in Finland.

The FLF is part of Nato’s deterrence against Russia on its eastern flank and comes as Vladimir Putin plans to send thousands more soldiers to the 800-mile Finnish border, fuelling fears of a direct confrontation by Moscow with the West.

John Healey, the UK’s Defence Secretary, will announce the decision to deploy a liason team to Finland at a Nato meeting in Brussels today.

This follows the government’s [Strategic Defence Review](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/what-to-expect-defence-review-3725941?srsltid=AfmBOopE98BpSCgkt5aOUEXuTtjSkkjinhUfDgYKctEfCUe7vLegCmfh&ico=in-line_link), published earlier this week, which committed the UK to taking the lead in Nato to increase European security.

The deployment to Finland is a sign of increasing concern about the potential for a provocation by Russia to test Nato’s resolve. Finland’s military intelligence service expects there to be as many as 50,000 new Russian soldiers to be stationed at the border, boosting the current total of 30,000, [according to the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung.](https://www.nzz.ch/english/russian-army-boosts-presence-near-finlands-border-ld.1886633)

The Ministry of Defence said the team of liaison officers would work with both Finland and Sweden as they develop FLF Finland, which it said is a “vital component to strengthening the Alliance’s deterrence posture on the Eastern Flank”.