The government’s Polish Institute for International Affairs (PISM), which provides an analytical cover for Polish foreign policy, unexpectedly addresses the importance of British defense strategy for NATO’s eastern flank
Unexpected, because the PISM note focuses on the Baltic Sea region, where the British have not been seen for a long time.
However, in May of this year, along with the dispatch of ships across the Mediterranean and the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific region, a group of landing craft from the British Navy left for the Baltic. It is also expected that London will go to the creation of a battle group in Estonia and Poland on land.
The exact implications of Britain’s new defense strategy are mixed, in part because not all of their plans are clear, PISM says. Despite this ambiguity, it is in Poland’s interest that the institution continues to develop the capacity to act jointly with Britain as a state that explicitly declares its readiness to strengthen its containment of Russia.
For Poland, “it may be mutually beneficial to join the British-led Expeditionary Force (JEF), which is designed to maintain a rapid response capability in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region. This would give Poland additional opportunities to establish interaction with various types of British troops, including the naval and landing forces, the importance of which in British defense policy will grow”.
Moscow, apparently, is aware of these plans. Recall that on May 19, at the ceremony of accepting credentials from the new Polish ambassador, Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing the relations between Warsaw and Moscow, said:
“Of course, we could be more meaningful and productive, especially since we are neighbors in the Baltic”.
In other words, the Russian leadership is warning Polish colleagues that their intentions to become a springboard for British land and sea operations against Russia do not in the least serve Poland’s national interests.