BRUSSELS — NATO defense ministers Wednesday approved new multinational reinforcements to beef up defenses of frontline alliance members most at risk from Russia, the alliance’s secretary-general announced.
Jens Stoltenberg said the plan adopted by the United States and NATO’s 27 other members calls for the use of troops from multiple countries who rotate in and out of eastern European member states rather than being permanently based there.
He said military planners will make recommendations on the number and composition of troops needed this spring.
“(The soldiers) will be multinational to make clear that an attack against one ally is an attack against all allies and that the alliance as a whole will respond,” Stoltenberg told a news conference after the first session of the two-day meeting of defense ministers.
But getting firm commitments, or even deciding how many NATO troops should be rotated eastward, may take time.
Douglas Lute, U.S. ambassador to NATO, said he expected defense ministers to agree on “a framework” but that actual force levels will probably be hammered out only after consultations with NATO’s supreme commander in Europe, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove.
One NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements, told The Associated Press one proposal under consideration calls for creation of a brigade-sized force: roughly 3,000 soldiers.
