Falklands 'war rotas' refreshed as MoD braces for mounting Russia crisis

The Ministry of Defence has refreshed its war rotas for thousands of civil servants as pressures continue to mount with Russia. Details of the "crisis contingency" measures emerge just days after PM Keir Starmer declared that ”Europe is mobilising on a scale not seen for decades,” as Britain and France prepare to lead a multinational security and stabilisation force which will put boots on Ukrainian soil to back up any peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow.

It is the first time since the Falkland War that mandarins in Whitehall have been forced to examine emergency measures at this scale to ensure a continuity of service by key individuals and support staff. The crisis contingency plans are said to have taken months of hard work to refresh, and will instruct staff to remain in situ at the MoD’s Whitehall headquarters during the week, returning home only at weekends to ensure 24 access to key individuals and the staff who support them. Those involved with intelligence, operational support and logistics are more likely to be affected.

Sources say one of the biggest challenges has been to secure blocks of locally-available accommodation, which has become more difficult in the capital - and much more expensive - since the 1980s.

The brief goes beyond London, however.

Personnel at the Bristol-based headquarters of the MoD’s Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&S) arm - which has been crucial in delivering weapons and other military aid to Ukraine - are also included in the plans, as are staff in two major munitions depots in Scotland.

“It’s fair to say this has been a major undertaking,’ said one Whitehall source with knowledge of the plans last night.

And the move is expected to be replicated across other key government departments

The Ministry of Defence alone employs 61,000 civilian personnel on a full -time basis, and it remains unclear what proportion would be affected by the plans, though sources say the figure will be “in the thousands”.

Remote working practices since the pandemic mean that there are no longer enough desks for everyone, another source said, adding:”In any case, those involved during the crisis are likely to be dealing with classified and sensitive subjects that cannot be worked on remotely for reasons of security.

"You can't work on top-secret issues from home.”

In the event that war does break out with Russia, the measures are likely to extend to the creation of a War Cabinet to enable prompt and flexible decision-making by a small number of Cabinet members - as has been the tradition since the First World War

PM Margaret Thatcher established a crisis contingency plan one month before Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands islands in 1982.

This was followed by the creation of a War Cabinet four days after the invasion of the islands by Argentine forces on April 2.

Though the UK and its European allies are not yet on a “war footing" with Russia , plans to create a 30-nation peacekeeping force in Ukraine risk the possibility of conflict with Russian premier Vladimir Putin, if he breaks the terms of any peace treaty with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

However, any hope of a meaningful peace treaty for brutal the three-year conflict seems remote.

Putin has already rejected proposals brokered by US President Trump for a 30-day ceasefire in the ground war.

Washington announced that a maritime version of the deal for the Black Sea deal had been agreed on Tuesday, after holding separate talks with delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Saudi Arabia.

But just hours later, the Kremlin said it would not take effect until sanctions were lifted on Russian banks, producers and exporters involved in the international food and fertiliser trades.

This was rejected by Starmer, who argued that more economic pressure should be applied to Moscow in order to secure a faster resolution.

"It means increasing the economic pressure on Russia, accelerating new tougher sanctions, bearing down on Russia's energy revenues, and working together to make this pressure count.”

In the meantime. Europe is preparing its most extensive defence initiative since the Cold War as it grapples with the prospect of conflict without US military support.

A stabilisation force of around 30,000 multinational troops who act as a ”trip wire” should Russia decide to invade Ukraine for a third time, allowing Ukrainian forces to reconstitute.

This will be supported by a no-fly zone over Ukraine, enforced by mulitnational Enhanced Air Policing (eAP) squadron led by RAF Typhoon and F-35s and based at nearby Nato air bases, probably in Poland.

But Putin has already indicated that any European troops on Ukrainians soil will be considered as a Nato force, which is a red line.

An alternative vision might be to allow the eAP squadron to operate the no-fly zone without forces on the ground, which will be used to boost Nato’s flanks instead, where they will be closer to Ukraine .

An MoD spokesman said: “We regularly review our workforce plans and contingency measures to ensure we are prepared to react in the event of emerging crises. This is in line with wider defence and cross-government planning.”