<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656343661548,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016b-0e59-daea-a7ff-0f5fee2e0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656343661548,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016b-0e59-daea-a7ff-0f5fee2e0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55911801", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1038131"} }); rn","_id":"00000181-a5c6-d447-ad8b-f5c685780000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedNATO will increase its high-readiness force troops level to “well over 300,000,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced.
The alliance’s chief said on Monday that it will be taking significant steps to transform NATO’s forces in what he described as “the biggest overhaul of our collective deterrence and defense since the Cold War.”
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“We will enhance our battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance up to brigade levels. We will transform the NATO Response Force and increase the number of our high-readiness forces to well over 300,000,” he said.
Other changes will include additional pre-positioned equipment and stockpiles of military supplies, more forward-deployed capabilities, strengthening command and control, and upgrading defense plans. These forces, Stoltenberg added, will work with local military forces and will become familiar with the terrain and facilities preemptively so they can respond more quickly.
NATO leaders are set to convene later this week in Madrid, Spain, as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its fifth month since its invasion in late February. The United States and other Western allies have continued to send military assistance worth billions of dollars, while Ukraine keeps requesting more as its troops fight for the survival of the country.
The leaders at the NATO summit will also unveil a new strategic concept, which will characterize Russia as “the most significant and direct threat to our security,” he added.
“So Russia has walked away from the partnership and the dialogue that NATO has tried to establish with Russia for many years,” Stoltenberg said. “They have done so not least by the brutal invasion of Ukraine, a blatant violation not only of international rule but also of all the documents and agreements we have signed with Russia to try to establish a framework for a meaningful dialogue with Russia. So the meaningful dialogue we worked for so many years … that’s not on the table, that’s not working, simply because of Russia’s behavior. They have chosen confrontation instead of dialogue.”
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Russia’s invasion has also resulted in other shifts to the alliance, specifically with Finland and Sweden, two long-standing neutral countries, to apply for the alliance, though Turkey has blocked it to date. Turkish officials have accused both countries of supporting terrorists on the grounds that both countries have refused to deport Turkish nationals that Ankara has accused of loyalty to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, an ethnic Kurdish militant group.
“We also aim to make progress on Finland and Sweden’s historic applications for NATO membership while ensuring the security concerns of all Allies are addressed,” Stoltenberg said.
