IV. The UK and the Northern Group: A Necessary Partnership

Between late 2017 and early 2018, the UK prime minister, the secretary of state for defence, chief of the Defence Staff and chief of the General Staff all stated that Russia constitutes the primary security threat facing the UK. This signals a deliberate shift from the preoccupation with violent extremism and terrorism that has dominated UK views on defence for more than two decades. The UK’s armed forces have been increasingly engaged in actions designed to counter Russian aggression in continental Europe, the High North and the Atlantic Ocean. The participation of the RAF as part of the Baltic Air Policing mission on an annual rotation, the deployment of significant elements of the Royal Navy to the Baltic Sea, the redeployment of forces to Norway as part of NATO exercises, and the presence of British Army soldiers and weapons in Estonia as part of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence mission are all clear indicators of the emphasis being placed on a military counter to Russian actions and growing influence. The armed forces have formed new military groupings, such as 77 Brigade, specifically to counter Russian activities. At the political level, since 2016 both formal reports by parliamentary bodies and more generic inquiries about threats facing the UK have highlighted Russian activities in the North Atlantic and