NATO's secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg says the alliance will conduct its 'biggest overhaul' of collective deterrence and defence since the Cold War.
NATO will boost its number of troops on high alert by more than sevenfold to over 300,000, the alliance's secretary-general says, as it prepares to adopt a new stance describing Moscow as a direct threat.
"They have chosen confrontation instead of dialogue. We regret that, but of course then we need to respond to that reality." The June 28 to 30 NATO summit comes at a pivotal moment for the alliance after failures in Afghanistan and internal discord during the era of former US president Donald Trump, who threatened to pull Washington out of the alliance.Mr Stoltenberg said in future NATO would have "well over 300,000" troops on high alert, compared to the 40,000 troops that currently made up the alliance's existing quick-reaction force, the NATO Response Force .
The new force model is meant to replace the NRF and "provide a larger pool of high-readiness forces across domains — land, sea, air and cyber — which will be pre-assigned to specific plans for the defence of allies", a NATO official said. Mr Stoltenberg said NATO combat units on the alliance's eastern flank nearest Russia, especially the Baltic states, would be boosted to brigade level.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Albanese arrives in Madrid for NATO summit to boost Ukraine supportNATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he expects allies to make clear they consider Russia "as the most significant and direct threat to our security".
Read more »
Albanese arrives in Madrid for NATO summit to boost Ukraine supportNATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he expects allies to make clear they consider Russia "as the most significant and direct threat to our security".
Read more »
Nato to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threatAlliance’s leader predicts this week’s summit will agree its most significant transformation in a generation
Read more »
NATO ramps up high-alert forces, Russia pummels Ukrainian citiesThe North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit will confirm a sevenfold troop increase, the G7 is boosting sanctions – and Vladimir Putin is stepping up attacks.
Read more »