NATO: Defense Ministers Discuss Strengthening East Wing

NATO defense ministers are meeting today to discuss the medium- and long-term strengthening of the alliance’s Eastern European wing following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin has put new “questions on the table” about NATO’s current strategy of supporting member states in its so-called east wing, US Ambassador to the Organization Julian Smith told reporters. Tuesday.

The development of land, sea and air support for the defense of these countries “in the long run” remains possible, said for his part the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, during a press conference.

Eastern European member states are concerned about their security – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

The extraordinary meeting of the Defense Ministers of the 30 member states, including the United States, of Lloyd Austin, will focus even on the most immediate measures of the alliance in response to the war, which is in its third week.

NATO has already deployed rapid reaction forces on its eastern flank in response to the Russian invasion and has launched plans to address a variety of future scenarios.

The “vigilante state” of NATO’s armed forces is now “hundreds of thousands”, according to Stoltenberg.

The Secretary-General of NATO clarified that there are currently around 100,000 American troops stationed in Europe, the 40,000 under NATO command. More air and naval forces have also been deployed.

Today’s meeting of ministers has been attended by their Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov, as well as the defense ministers of Sweden, Finland and Georgia – non-NATO countries.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ

Source: Capital

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