NATO prepares a reinforcement of the eastern flank with a model of pre-assigned troops without deployment on the ground

BRUSSELS, June 16 (EUROPE PRESS) -

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that NATO is preparing to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank and increase the number of forces in combat battalions in the Baltics and Poland with a model of pre-assigned troops, no field deployment.

After the meeting of allied defense ministers in Brussels, the political chief of NATO has defended a "new force model", which has more troops on alert and specific forces "pre-assigned" for the defense of specific allied countries.

"Several Allies have pledged to contribute to a stronger presence in the eastern part of our Alliance. But we still have work to do ahead of the summit where I look forward to more announcements," Stoltenberg said.

In any case, he pointed out that "not all the forces will be deployed on the ground." In this way, NATO will be able to reinforce the eastern flank faster and more extensively in full concern of the Baltic countries to stop any activity by Moscow after the incursion by Russian troops into Ukraine. The idea of ​​the military organization is to reach the brigade level, that is, up to 5,000 troops. Currently only Poland has that number of allied troops on its territory in the framework of NATO battalions.

Thus, Germany's proposal gains strength to expand its detachment in Lithuania with a combination of forces present on the ground and others pre-assigned, that is, trained and ready for rapid deployment. In any case, the NATO leaders' summit in Madrid will be the moment in which concrete commitments are announced in this regard.

Another key to this new strategy to strengthen the defense position is to increase the prepositioned material, that is weapons and ammunition, as well as improving reserves. In this way, NATO wants to increase its deterrence against Russia and better defend allied countries on the front line.

"Sometimes it takes time to carry heavy weapons, ammunition, supplies... With larger reserves it is easier to use or reinforce it when needed," Stoltenberg explained. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO agreed to four new combat battalions on the eastern flank, in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, extending the military ring of security to southeastern Europe for a total of eight combat groups, once the military alliance also reinforced the multinational units in Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.