The United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Defense has visited Romania where British troops are taking part in a NATO exercise.
Sir Michael Fallon explained that NATO is a defensive Alliance ready to defend itself to deter and to reassure. He said, “…it’s very important that any NATO state gets the reassurance that it needs. And we are deploying, not just in Estonia, but in Poland, this exercise here and of course the Typhoon deployment on the Black Sea itself.”
Exercise Noble Jump involves more than 4,000 troops from eight nations. It is designed to test NATO’s spearhead force, which can deploy within 48 hours. The land and air elements of the force are currently led by the British.
Footage includes soundbites from the UK Secretary of State for Defense Sir Michael Fallon.
TRANSCRIPT:
1. (01:54) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – SIR MICHAEL FALLON, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE, UK
“This rapid response force was agreed at the Wales Summit in Britain nearly three years ago and it’s so important to demonstrate the reality that we are ready to reinforce, ready to work with other countries right across the NATO Alliance to be sure that we can respond to any threat.”
2. (00:20) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – SIR MICHAEL FALLON, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE, UK
“Well the security position has deteriorated over the last couple of years. Three years we’ve seen the annexation of Crimea, the continuing unrest in the Ukraine, a strong Russian Naval presence not just in the Black Sea but also in the eastern Mediterranean as well as pressure on the Baltic States so it’s all the more important that NATO pulls together and demonstrates that it is ready to respond to any of the 29 members who are under threat.”
3. (00:48) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – SIR MICHAEL FALLON, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE, UK
“Any member of the Alliance is entitled to the protection of the rest of the Alliance and the Baltic States have felt particularly under pressure. They have a frontier with Russia, there are huge Russian exercises underway on their borders and it’s very important that any NATO state gets the reassurance that it needs. And we are deploying, not just in Estonia, but in Poland, this exercise here and of course the Typhoon deployment on the Black Sea itself.
4. (01:22) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – SIR MICHAEL FALLON, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE, UK (In answer to how the populations of the Baltic States should feel)
“They should feel reassured that’s the purpose of demonstrating that we can reinforce extremely quickly, that NATO is a defensive Alliance but it is ready to defend itself to deter and to reassure.”
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