(Source: Wikipedia)
The UK tries to combine both aspects in the package of agreements with the most crucial geostrategic partners and with the country’s economic interests. As Teresa May argued in 2016, Britain’s new place must be global – as in the motto “Global Britain.” The basic pillars of this future “Global Britain” have geopolitical implications for the global correlation of forces. On the one hand, London is distancing itself from the EU and searching for a new format in its relations with NATO that would allow it to conduct an independent foreign policy. On the other hand, it is returning to the old strategy of strategic cooperation with the US and other Anglophone countries, for example as part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.
The fundamental element of British strategy in the XVIII century in Eurasia (the “Great Game”) was to try to block and isolate Russia from the Middle East and Eastern Europe. It looks like Britain is returning as an independent player to geopolitical gambling days of old. Ukraine in the contemporary geopolitical landscape is a key player when it comes to fulfilling these geostrategic goals.
The UK together with the United States are the main strategic partners of Ukraine and sometimes London demonstrates even bolder moves than Washington in certain fields of military collaboration. London is the main backer of Ukraine and is interested in the increase of the Ukrainian military readiness and resilience against Russian aggression. Since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, two countries have made a difference in military cooperation with Ukraine from across the gamut of Ukrainian partners and NATO member states – Great Britain and Turkey. These two together with the United States behave and conduct their foreign policy as independent global actors and concurrently. In order to adopt decisions, they act unilaterally. NATO here is supplementary, but a very important matrix that determines their global conduct. It should be noted that France is making some efforts, too, in the direction of military cooperation with Ukraine.
London has introduced a comprehensive post-Brexit strategy towards Ukraine and it now has several components: a naval presence, massive military exercises and trainings, and – in the near future – building warships for (and together with) the Ukrainian Navy. Finally, the UK is planning to help Ukraine to build naval bases in the Black Sea. Moreover, the UK provides funding to Ukraine(about £10 million annually). Of course, it is too early to speak about a constant British naval and ground forces presence in Ukraine, but such a prospect cannot be ruled out. According to the UK Military Attaché, everything depends on Ukrainebecause frigates are very expensive and Kiev is not able to take on such a financial burden; hence, a decision was taken to concentrate on high-speed patrol boats.
Both Washington and London have recalibrated their joint position in Ukraine regarding the development of the naval defense strategy, known as the “Mosquitos Fleet,” which aims to deter much stronger enemy naval capabilities. The key element of this doctrine is the use of small missile-equipped patrol ships that would be able to operate in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. This naval defensive strategy aims to effectively deter an enemy with much stronger naval capabilities in the coastline zones.
The annexation of Crimea – the British response
The datum point of Ukrainian-British military cooperation was August 2008, when the Russian-Georgian War occurred. For many experts and politicians, this was when it became clear that Crimea was going to be next. In 2010, a program of bilateral military cooperation was signed between the two countries, where it was agreed that London would help in the preparation of military personnel according to NATO standards. The real strategic breakthrough happened only after the events in Crimea and Donbass. Already, since February 2015 – following a request from the Ukrainian government to provide guidance and training to their Armed Forces – British specialists have arrived in Ukraine as part of the UK-established Operation ORBITAL. The main focus of the mission were different types of military trainings. Again, after the incident in the Kerch Strait, London decided to extend its military defense assistance to Ukraine. This time the mission expanded to the naval forces of Ukraine. In January and March 2019, the first Royal Navy and Royal Marines training teams arrived in Ukraine. So far, more than 18,100 Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel and nearly 4,000 military instructors have been trained by the mission since 2015. In August 2020, it was reported that over 2,500 British military personnel had been deployed to Ukraine. They had conducted over 400 courses. The mission is planned to last until in March 2023.
Furthermore, in August 2020 the British Government announced that the UK would lead a multinational Maritime Training Initiative for the Ukrainian Navy that will boost its ability to combat threats from the East in the Black Sea. Moreover, London promised that a new initiative would help to build Ukraine’s new NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner status. The courses will be delivered by personnel from the UK, Sweden, Canada and Denmark in the areas of navigation, operational planning, military diving, sea surveillance, fire-fighting and damage control.
On 19th September 2020, over 200 British paratroopers from the 16 Air Assault Brigade conducted joint exercises as a part of the “Joint Endeavour-2020” exercises in southern Ukraine, near annexed Crimea. For British paratroopers, this was the first time in decades that such a massive jump had taken place. The aims of the exercises were:
Autor
Ridvan Bari Urcosta
Senior Analyst at Strategy&Future
Strategy&Future
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