Hundreds of elite troopers will be stationed with British troops on a Royal Navy gunship, as part of a thinly-veiled warning to the Russian president.
The move is also designed to be a show of strength to nervous NATO allies across Europe, who are worried they might be the next victims of Putin's expansionist ambitions.
However, embarrassingly for Britain, the Marines may have to turn to other European nations to host their air support because the Royal Navy no longer has an aircraft carrier.
Their MV22 Osprey vertical take off craft will be tested aboard the helicopter-carrying assault ship HMS Ocean, to see whether the landing deck is strong enough to withstand the force of it taking off.
In previous tests the ship has proved it can operate the Osprey.
The Pentagon is being forced to rely on its allies to base Marines in Europe because the intense focus on the Middle East has stretched the resources of even the world's richest military.
The normal force based in the Mediterranean - the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit - has been relocated to the US Central Command in Iraq.
Instead the US Marines will be based on British, Spanish, French and Dutch ships.
Brigadier General Normal Cooling, deputy commander of Marine Forces Europe and Africa, said: "They all have ships that could potentially carry an alert force with Osprey."
BOEING
ROYAL NAVY
The move comes after the revelation that US military commanders want to deploy tanks and armoured fighting vehicles in Poland and the Baltic nations to help bolster their defences against Russia.
Putin has already annexed Ukraine's Crimea region, while a fierce war between Russian-backed separatists and government forces is raging in Eastern Ukraine.
His country has threatened to retaliate by massing troops and arms on its border with Europe if Nato deploys forces in the Baltic states.
Russian defence ministry official General Yuri Yakubov said such a move would be the "most aggressive step by the Pentagon and Nato since the Cold War" and added: "Russia will have no option but to build up its forces and resources on the Western strategic front."
In a show of strength NATO is set to hold its largest war games in a decade in September, with more than 25,000 allied troops including the latest contingent of US marines set to take part.
A total of 150 US and British Marines and up to three Osprey aircraft will be deployed on HMS Ocean.
Credit to Express.co.uk
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