THE government’s announcement that it is to station troops in the Baltic states to prevent “Russian aggression” is a provocation, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament warned yesterday.

The move comes against a backdrop of heightened tension between the West and Moscow following President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch air strikes against Isis in Syria.

Arriving for a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels yesterday morning, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: “This is further reassurance for our allies on the eastern flank of Nato — for the Baltic states and for Poland.