NATO Military Command Able To Deploy Additional Forces On Eastern Flank - Stoltenberg

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2022) NATO's military command can bring in additional forces to the eastern flank if necessary, the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"Our supreme allied commander has been provided with the authority to add even more forces if he deems that necessary," Stoltenberg told a press conference following the alliance's ministerial meeting in Bucharest.

According to Stoltenberg, NATO has plans to protect all allies and has already increased the NATO Eastern flank group to 40,000 troops.

"NATO has plans in place to protect and defend all allies and also that's the plans we activated when Russia invaded Ukraine. We activated (them) the same morning and that has led to more NATO presence, now 40,000 troops on the NATO command in Eastern part of the alliance and backed by significant air and naval forces," Stoltenberg added.

The meeting of NATO foreign ministers is taking place in the Romanian capital from November 29-30.

At the end of June, NATO leaders agreed on a plan for a significant build-up of the alliance's forces on the eastern flank by 2023, amid Russia's military operation in Ukraine. NATO said that it plans to increase the number of high-readiness forces on the eastern flank to more than 300,000 soldiers in the near future, as well as to increase the composition of combat groups to the brigade level. In addition, NATO countries pledged to increase defense spending.