Sophie Bolt
CND General Secretary
Sophie is General Secretary of CND. Sophie has over 30 years’ campaigning experience and has been part of CND’s leadership for over 20 years.

With Britain announcing more troops being sent to Eastern Europe and with speculation that European NATO states are considering deployments to Ukraine, CND’s Chair, Tom Unterrainer, discusses the implications for the region.

Throughout January and February, 2600 UK troops and 730 vehicles are participating in a ‘war game’ in Eastern Europe. The Steadfast Dart war game joins other regular NATO exercises which, it is claimed, prepare the forces of the nuclear-armed alliance for the ‘defence of Europe’.

According to the Ministry of Defence: ‘The new Allied Reaction Force will not only support [NATO] … in times of crisis but strengthen deterrence against our adversaries – including Russia.’ A statement released on 3 January 2025 announced the participation of ‘[t]housands of British troops’ in a ‘major NATO exercise in Eastern Europe’.

The ‘1st United Kingdom Division’, comprised of eight brigades (of between 3,000-5,000 troops), is the central component of NATO’s ‘Allied Reaction Force’.

The claims of the Ministry of Defence require some unpicking, not least because the news of this war game was quickly followed by the announcement of a ‘landmark 100 Year Partnership’ between the United Kingdom and Ukraine.

Details of this ‘Partnership’ – yet to be voted on in Parliament – include a pledge of ‘no less than’ £3 billion a year in military support, ‘for as long as it takes’. This is in addition to the £7.8 billion donated so far. Fundamentally, it states that the UK is ‘committed to Ukraine’s irreversible path to membership’ of NATO as ‘the best guarantee of Ukrainian security’.

Steadfast Dart and the ‘100 Year Partnership’ cannot be separated from ongoing speculation that British troops could be deployed to Ukraine to ‘ensure security’ following a settlement of the war with Russia. Prior to Starmer’s recent visit to Kyiv and this announcement, President Zelensky informed reporters that ‘he would discuss … the possibility of bringing Western troops to Ukraine’.

Central to Steadfast Dart, the ‘100 Year Partnership’ and Zelensky’s desire for British troops on the ground in Ukraine, is the idea of ‘deterring Russia’ and attempting to do so via an expanded and enhanced NATO presence. But, rather than offer ‘deterrence’, NATO expansion will only escalate tensions further.

The peace and anti-war movements have been clear that there was no justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, we have also argued against the expansion of NATO up to the border of Russia because it was clear that such expansion would massively increase nuclear tensions.

As well as receiving huge supplies of lethal, war-fighting material, Ukraine is also being used to develop and test weaponry for further wars. Research shows that Ukraine is  ‘being used as a test [site] and as a shop window for new weapons technologies.’ 

Taken together, the continued commitment to NATO expansion, the militarisation of Europe, and a state-funded high-tech arms race, will do nothing to achieve security or deter ‘threats’. Rather, they drive insecurity, promote escalation and amount to preparing for the next war. CND argues for a very different concept of security, one that recognises the basic truth that security cannot be established at the expense of others: common security.