Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, said that before the summit, which will be held in Madrid, the members of the alliance must agree on a new model for the defense of the eastern flank, in connection with a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Stoltenberg stated this at a press conference following the NATO ministerial meeting last Thursday, a correspondent reports. “European Truth”:
“We have made significant progress agreeing on specific terms, elements of a new defense model, and also heard that several allies are ready to add additional forces to strengthen this model.”
Stoltenberg specified that the Alliance’s new defense model on the eastern flank would be based on three pillars:
“The first is an increase in forward presence with more combat operations, and we have already increased our presence. Over the past few months, we have doubled the number of battle groups in the east from four to eight.”
The second important component of the model, the NATO Secretary General called the preliminary deployment of military equipment in order to save time in conditions where rapid mobilization of forces is required. He further noted:
“And the third element is the preliminary definition of units – these are forces that will be trained in a certain territory, where there will be certain duties … That is, not all forces will be deployed: some will be deployed in advance, and the other part will be in their native country, but be ready for relocation if necessary.
Summing up, the secretary general of the alliance noted that the new model of defense of the eastern flank of NATO will mean “a significant increase in our ability to deter and defend.”
Earlier, the defense ministers of Germany and the UK supported the idea of increasing NATO’s military presence to brigade level in Lithuania and Estonia, respectively.
The NATO summit will be held June 29-30 in Madrid. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will take part in it remotely.
More Stories
From November 1st, an electronic conscription system will be launched in the Russian Federation.
In a Ukrainian circus, child acrobats fell from a height (video)
Who were the Ukrainians killed in Germany?