The countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will increase the number of troops in a high readiness situation to “more than 300,000” combatants, the secretary general of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, announced on Monday.
(Also read: Europe fears that Putin will turn off the gas tap and aggravate the economic crisis)
This step would be adopted by NATO leaders during a summit to be held this week in Madrid.and which according to Stoltenberg will be “transformative” for the alliance in its response to Russia’s military actions against Ukraine.
“We will upgrade our battle groups in the Eastern part of the alliance, down to brigade levels. We will transform the NATO Response Force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to more than 300,000,” Stoltenberg said.
(It may interest you: Putin would make the first trip abroad since the offensive against Ukraine)
“I think the allies will make it clear in Madrid that they see Russia as the biggest and most direct threat to our security,” said the Norwegian official, presenting the main issues and challenges of the NATO summit.
For this reason, he added, this summit will be “a turning point and several important decisions will be made.”
NATO created eight tactical groupings, with headquarters in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.. Those groups will be reinforced by “pre-designated” units in other Alliance countries, and will be called upon to intervene in these countries where heavy weapons have been deployed, he explained.
Thus, the Atlantic alliance “will transform its response force from 40,000 troops” and will increase the number of its highly prepared forces to “more than 300,000,” he added.
Material aid to Ukraine
“These measures together constitute the largest overhaul of our collective defense and presence since the Cold War. And to do that, we need to invest more,” Stoltenberg warned.
Stoltenberg did not offer details about where the additional forces would come from or how they might be deployed.
The head of NATO added that during the summit in Madrid the leaders of the military alliance intend to agree on a reinforcement of material support for Ukraine. The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, will have to deliver a message during the summit through videoconference contact.
That material support package would include the delivery of equipment such as secure communications, anti-drone systems and fuel, as a way to help Ukraine in the long term until that country is in a position to use NATO weapons.
That plan is independent of the weapons NATO member states have already started sending to Ukraine, including anti-tank rockets, artillery and anti-aircraft defenses.
Commitment to defense
NATO members have committed to devoting 2% of their GDP to defense spending in 2024, but only nine of the 30 countries have achieved this goal by 2022 (Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, United Kingdom, and the United States). , Latvia, Croatia and Slovakia).
France stands at 1.90%, Italy at 1.54%, Germany at 1.44%, while Spain, the organizer of the summit, is penultimate on the list with 1.01%.according to data published this Monday by NATO.
The countries of the Baltic countries ask that NATO permanently deploy alliance troops in their territories, as a deterrent against the proximity of Russia.
More world news
– Ecuador: indigenous protests continue despite the withdrawal of the state of emergency
– Peru: Pedro Castillo will testify before a commission for alleged corruption
– European Union ‘celebrates’ Petro’s dialogue with all political sectors
#NATO #countries #increase #troop #numbers