Royal Navy sends HMS Ocean to Baltic in show of strength

   (Express, UK) --- ROYAL Navy chiefs have directed the fleet’s biggest warship to spearhead high-level Nato war games in the Baltic, as part of a direct response to Moscow’s increasing “military surveillance” of the West.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has personally approved the deployment of HMS Ocean and she will sail on Tuesday.
   The helicopter carrier will join a flotilla of 46 Nato vessels taking part in amphibious operations in Poland, within sight of Vladimir Putin’s intelligence base at Kaliningrad. The Kaliningrad base, which also houses Russia’s Baltic fleet, is Moscow’s command and co-ordination headquarters for all air and maritime intelligence gathering missions over Europe.
   Sources have revealed that the decision to add HMS Ocean to the list of Royal Navy vessels taking part in Exercise Baltops was made after Vice Admiral Sir Philip Jones, the head of the Royal Navy’s operational fleet, briefed the defence secretary about Nato’s concerns in the Baltic.
   The exercise will also feature American B-52 nuclear bombers, which became the ultimate Cold War symbol as they stood on alert for decades ready to strike the Soviet Union.
   Backing from Prime Minister David Cameron will boost Britain’s profile across Europe at a time when the Government is about to start talks over his EU reform agenda.
   However the main concern remains increasing Russian aggression. Earlier this week Finland sent letters to its 90,000 reservists warning them of their potential “war role”, as political and military tension with Russia spreads.
   Nato’s top UK general, Sir Adrian Bradshaw, warned that while the alliance is a defensive organisation it will not accept the spread of Russian violence in the Ukraine.
   Tensions between the Russian Federation and the West have soared since President Putin ordered the annexation of Crimea.

   This resulted in EU economic sanctions and the tit-for-tat escalation by Moscow of harassment flights and maritime incursions across UK and European air space.
   On Thursday Nato’s senior military commander General Philip Breedlove confirmed that Russia had deployed military systems in eastern Ukraine “with nuclear capabilities”.
   Last night a senior source at Naval headquarters in Portsmouth said the deployment shows just how serious Nato views the tension that is spreading across the Baltic and into Europe.
   The senior officer said: “The exercise will start at the end of this month and run into June and we expect this will be a very big show of force to demonstrate that the Alliance is ready to defend the Baltic states who, after all, are members of Nato.”