BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO defense ministers on Thursday discussed ways to bolster forces and deterrence along the military alliance’s eastern borders to dissuade Russia from planning further aggression in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian invasion has led allies to rethink strategies and to agree that NATO forces should be present in greater numbers on that eastern flank. NATO says it has placed over 40,000 troops under its direct command, mainly on the eastern flank, and is looking at how it can further strengthen its presence, readiness, and capabilities.
“This will mean more NATO forward-deployed combat formations, to strengthen our battlegroups in the eastern part of the alliance, more air, sea and cyber defenses, as well as pre-positioned equipment and weapons stockpiles,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting.
The meeting of defense ministers came ahead of a June 29-30 NATO summit in Madrid that will seek to set a road map for the alliance in coming years.
Germany has already announced its plans to strengthen its engagement in Lithuania, while France wants to increase its presence in Romania, where it plans to have deployed 1,000 troops with Leclerc tanks by the end of the year.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declined to detail any changes in America’s positioning of forces across Europe but said the U.S. and its allies will take steps to rapidly deploy troops if needed. That includes positioning more equipment in the region and putting troops on higher levels of alert.
“All of our allies have learned from any shortcomings that we may have experienced in the past, and they’ll build to ensure that they have the right capabilities to provide flexible and responsible and combat-credible forces when the time comes,” he said.
Artis Pabriks, the Latvian defense minister, said the military alliance should position larger armed forces and material in Baltic countries.
“We want an improved planning. We want a headquarters structure. We want pre-positioning of different types of equipment, so if a crisis would come we should not wait,” he said.
