Gavin Williamson aims to counter Russian aggression by deploying UK troops to the Arctic

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Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Gavin Williamson said 800 servicemen will be sent to Norway next year and a new military base will be opened in the north of the country. He labelled the plan a “defence Arctic strategy”. Russia has recently re-opened Soviet-era bases as well as increasing submarine activity in the region. Mr Williamson added the UK needs to prove we are there to “protect our interests”.

He said: “We see Russian submarine activity very close to the level that it was at the Cold War, and it’s right that we start responding to that. “If we could turn back the clock ten years many people thought that the era of submarine activity in the High North, in the North Atlantic, and the threat that it posed did disappear with the fall of the Berlin Wall. “This threat has really come back to the fore. “If we want to be protecting our interests in what is effectively our own back yard, this is something we need to be doing.”

Around 800 servicemen and women will be sent to Norway next year

800 Royal Marine and Army commandos will be sent to Norway every winter for the next ten years. They will be operating alongside forces from the US, the Netherlands and Norway. 3,000 troops will also be deployed as part of a NATO training exercise, with 40,000 troops being deployed in total. The new plan will be the largest operation of its kind since the end of the Cold War.

Russia has been increasing its submarine presence in the region