Media: UK military training cut to raise army salaries

According to the Daily Mail, the training of British servicemen is being cut in order to raise salaries in the army, TASS reports

According to the publication, the situation may be so critical that soldiers in Britain on exercises may have to pretend they are firing rather than using live ammunition. The country’s defence chefs have been told they have to save £400m ($527m) for the pay rises.

“Troops will literally be going ‘bang bang’. That’s if they even get to go on a large-scale exercise in the next 12 months,” an unnamed senior military official is quoted as saying. 

At the same time, the article underlines that London sends about £2.5bn ($3.3bn) a year for military support to Kiev and training of Ukrainian servicemen, which ‘has significantly reduced stocks’ of weapons. 

The publication also cites a comment from the British Ministry of Defence, which says that ‘the Armed Forces personnel are receiving their largest pay rise in 22 years’. The department also assured that ‘it would never compromise on the safety of the British personnel’.