British deployment to Estonia demonstrates the UK’s “unshakeable commitment” to NATO and the defence of Europe, Defence Secretary John Healey has said.
The defence secretary made the remarks while visiting personnel deployed to Tapa military base in Estonia to thank them for their service over Christmas.
Healey said on Sunday that the UK’s deployment in the Baltic country is “keeping us secure at home and strong abroad.”
“Our presence here is a powerful message to our allies and adversaries: the UK stands ready to defend its allies and uphold our shared values, all year round,” he added.
Around 900 military personnel are based in Estonia, which is the UK’s largest permanent overseas deployment.
10,000 Personnel Away at Christmas
Some 10,000 servicemen and women from across the four branches of the military are serving overseas during the festive period on 60 operations in 44 countries. Hundreds more based in the UK are also working during Christmas.While visiting the base in Tapa, Healey met with troops, serving them food in the cafeteria and later eating a Christmas lunch with them.
In an address to soldiers, the defence secretary thanked them, saying: “This is a really important deployment for us. What you’re doing here really matters. It matters for the security of Europe, and it matters to us all back home in Britain.”
He continued: “We ask a lot of you all in the Armed Forces, not least the separation from your families and your friends and your loved ones. And at Christmas, that sense of separation can be especially strong.
NATO’s Eastern Flank
The Ministry of Defence describes the UK’s relationship with the Baltic nation as a “cornerstone of NATO’s defence.”Other battle groups comprised of multi-nation forces include those in fellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania, as well as Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.
Reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank has become increasingly important for the defence union since the start of the Ukraine–Russia war.
The defence union’s eastern front has grown in recent years. Both Finland and Sweden applied to Join NATO in May 2022, three months after Russian forces invaded eastern Ukraine. The decision by the two Nordic nations ended decades of military non-alignment and neutrality.
Finland’s and Sweden’s officially accession to NATO in April 2023 and March 2024, respectively, has increased the number of allies to 32.
During his first term in office, President-elect Donald Trump criticised members of the NATO alliance for failing to live up to the defence spending commitment of 2 percent of GDP.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also committed to increasing the UK’s minimum spend to 2.5 percent of GDP.
NATO operates under the model of collective defence which is enshrined in Article 5 of the treaty, where an attack on one ally is seen as an attack on all members.