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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.” 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. Mr Williamson said: “Britain will make it clear that the Royal Navy not only has the skills and the capabilities to operate under the ice shelf but a willingness to do it. “It’s
all about stepping and increasing the tempo, increasing our capabilities, and demonstrating we’re there to uphold the international rules based order.” In June, Mr Williamson also said
Typhoon fighter jets will be sent to Iceland in response to Russian aggression. The military action follows a trend of worsening relations between Russia and the UK since the Salisbury
poisonings earlier this year.