(Brussels) NATO has started to deploy elements of its Response Force to further strengthen its defense posture and be able to react quickly to any eventuality following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Secretary General of NATO.
Posted at 2:00 p.m.
“The Ukrainian forces are fighting bravely and are able to inflict damage on the Russian forces that invade them,” said Jens Stoltenberg.
“We are deploying the Collective Defense Response Force for the first time to avoid spillovers into Alliance territory,” he said after a summit of Alliance leaders. organized by videoconference.
A cyber attack against one of the 30 NATO countries can activate the collective defense of the allies, warned Jens Stoltenberg.
“Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine with the stated objective of overthrowing the government by marching on Kiev,” he said.
“But the Kremlin’s goals are not limited to Ukraine,” he warned. “Putin has demanded the withdrawal of Alliance forces from the territories of all countries that have joined since 1997,” he recalled.
PHOTO YVES HERMAN, REUTERS
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“The answer is a strengthening of the deterrence posture and the defense of allies with this deployment of these elements,” he explained.
The force has 40,000 soldiers and its spearhead is a Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) of 8,000 fighters currently commanded by France. It includes a multinational brigade and battalions supported by air and maritime units and special forces.
Some units may be ready to move within two to three days, NATO says.
“We are now making significant additional defensive deployments of forces in the eastern part of Alliance territory,” NATO leaders said in a statement after the summit.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the decision to accelerate the deployment of several hundred French soldiers in Romania and to send a new contingent to Estonia as part of the Alliance’s forward presence.
The Pentagon has announced the dispatch of an armored brigade to Germany, which will bring the number of American soldiers deployed in Europe to nearly 100,000.
The UK is also ready to increase its military support for the Alliance, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.
“The measures we are taking are and remain preventive, proportionate and not constituting an escalation,” the Alliance leaders insisted in their statement.