AFP, Brussels :
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said the alliance had approved plans for an increased presence in eastern member states alarmed by a more assertive Russia, sending a “clear signal” to any aggressors.
Stung into action by the Russian intervention in Ukraine and shock 2014 annexation of Crimea, NATO has boosted its resources and readiness to meet any new threat but its nervous former Soviet allies in the east are pushing for more.
Former Norwegian premier Stoltenberg said the 28-nation alliance’s defence ministers had agreed at a meeting in Brussels on plans for an “enhanced forward presence in the eastern part of our alliance”.
“This will send a clear signal. NATO will respond as one to any aggression against any ally,” Stoltenberg told reporters. “This will be a multinational (force) to show that an attack on one will be an attack on all.”
He spoke of a “more assertive Russia which has used force to change borders” and said that NATO, formed in the depths of the Cold War, now faced the “most challenging security environment in a generation.”
The force will likely involve between 3,000 and no more than 6,000 troops, NATO diplomatic source said, although Stoltenberg gave no further details as the project must now go to the military planners to be fleshed out.
They will rotate continuously through the three Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, plus Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, the sources said.
Critics say the Ukraine crisis and the annexation of Crimea badly wrong-footed the alliance, which under-estimated Russia’s ability to move so quickly and make such effective use of hybrid warfare.
