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05-21-2016, 07:03 AM
BRUSSELS: Nato’s build-up in eastern Europe could include up to 3,500 troops, Britain said on Friday, stressing that the planned deployments would **t be aggressive towards Russia.
Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014 has prompted the Western military alliance to consider deterrent forces in the Baltics and Poland which British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said would be a "trip wire" to alert Nato of any potential threat.
Nato defence ministers are expected to decide on the troop levels next month, while making clear ** large forces will be stationed permanently, to avoid provoking the Kremlin. "It looks like there could be four, maybe five battalions ...the point of these formations is to act as a trip wire," Hammond told reporters.
"It isn’t intended to be aggressive," he said following a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
Hammond said that could amount to as many as 3,500 troops along Nato’s border with Russia, with Britain, Germany and the United States taking the bulk of command duties.
In total, the deterrent will be made up of small eastern outposts, forces on rotation, regular war games and warehoused equipment ready for a rapid response force which would include air, maritime and special operations units.
Nato diplomats say the United States is likely to command two battalions, with Britain and Germany taking a**ther each.
That leaves a fifth Nato nation to come forward to lead the remaining battalion, with Denmark, Spain, Italy or the Netherlands seen as possible candidates, diplomats say.
The force build-up follows a speech by US President Barack Obama in Estonia in 2014 in which he said Nato would help ensure the independence of the three Baltic states, which for decades were part of the Soviet Union.
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Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014 has prompted the Western military alliance to consider deterrent forces in the Baltics and Poland which British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said would be a "trip wire" to alert Nato of any potential threat.
Nato defence ministers are expected to decide on the troop levels next month, while making clear ** large forces will be stationed permanently, to avoid provoking the Kremlin. "It looks like there could be four, maybe five battalions ...the point of these formations is to act as a trip wire," Hammond told reporters.
"It isn’t intended to be aggressive," he said following a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
Hammond said that could amount to as many as 3,500 troops along Nato’s border with Russia, with Britain, Germany and the United States taking the bulk of command duties.
In total, the deterrent will be made up of small eastern outposts, forces on rotation, regular war games and warehoused equipment ready for a rapid response force which would include air, maritime and special operations units.
Nato diplomats say the United States is likely to command two battalions, with Britain and Germany taking a**ther each.
That leaves a fifth Nato nation to come forward to lead the remaining battalion, with Denmark, Spain, Italy or the Netherlands seen as possible candidates, diplomats say.
The force build-up follows a speech by US President Barack Obama in Estonia in 2014 in which he said Nato would help ensure the independence of the three Baltic states, which for decades were part of the Soviet Union.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~4/0_LV_MxLCqY
أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~3/0_LV_MxLCqY/121582-Nato-may-rely-on-five-battalions-to-deter-Russia)