US, UK & Germany announce new NATO force near Russia’s border next year

World Today

The United States, Britain and Germany have announced they will spearhead a new NATO force positioned near Russia’s border next year.
The Kremlin’s response has been to review combat readiness across Russia’s armed forces.

CCTV’s Jack Barton has this report from Brussels.

Three of NATO’s biggest military powers have agreed to each command battalions to be stationed in three Baltic countries and Poland. Canada has been touted as a possible leader of a fourth battalion.

The plan is to counter any Russian show of force similar to that deployed in Crimea two years ago.

“That should send a very strong signal of our determination to defend the Baltic states and Poland in the face of continued Russian aggression,” Michael Fallon, the British Defense Secretary said.

The deployment of about 4,000 troops backed by rapid reaction forces represents NATO’s biggest military build-up in Eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin responded by ordering snap checks on combat readiness across his armed forces.

NATO said, because the battalions will be rotated every six to nine months, they would not constitute a permanent deployment.

“We don’t seek confrontation with Russia, we don’t want a new cold war, we will continue to strive for a more cooperative relationship with Russia and especially when tensions are as high as now I think it’s important that it’s important to keep channels for political dialogue open,” Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General said.

The latest deployments are part of a broader NATO deterrent force to be approved in Warsaw next month, which includes storing equipment ready for an attack and a highly mobile “spearhead” group backed by NATO’s 40,000-strong rapid reaction force.