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The drill, intended to test whether heavily armoured vehicles could be transported to mainland Europe through the tunnel, saw five tanks loaded onto trains and sent to France at around midnight Wednesday.



The test was successful, giving Britain an extra choice when transporting defence equipment to the continent.

GETTY The military expert called the move a

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the move added “to the existing range of options available” and increased “the agility of our Armed Forces”.



But Colonel Alexander Zhilin, a Russian military expert who heads the Centre for the Study of Applied Problems of National Security, berated the move as another attempt to escalate anti-Russian sentiment.



He said: “The things that we have been observing in Europe for quite some time now can be described by one term: fear mongering.

GETTY Five tanks were sent across the Channel Tunnel as part of the drill.

GETTY EU member states are getting nervous over perceived military aggression from Russia.

“To the spurious allegations that Russia is about to attack Europe, a cheap kind of PR is added, involving the movement of equipment, and in quantities that wouldn’t decide anything in case of a real war.”



The military officer also claimed that deploying a military presence to Europe is part of a campaign to maintain perceptions of Russian threat.



He added: “Who’s the aggressor here?”

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Last week the US sent thousands of troops to Eastern Europe in an attempt to calm Nato allies concerned about the election of Donald Trump.



The newly-inaugurated President is a vocal critic of Nato, and has previously mooted the US may pull out if smaller member states fail to start paying their way.