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NATO considers increasing troop numbers in the Baltic states 40211152.
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Defence & Security News - (NATO)
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| NATO considers increasing troop numbers in the Baltic states | |||
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NATO members are considering an increase in the number of troops deployed to the Baltic states, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Diplomatic and military sources have informed the newspaper that the Alliance is considering two options to deploy additional forces. Both of them are still in early negotiations and have not been formally presented to the North Atlantic Council.
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 US Army Strykers entering Latvia during Operation Dragoon Ride. (Photo: US Army Europe) |
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The first one would see the deployment of one more battalion in each of the Baltic countries, namely Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Each unit would be comprised of 800 to 1,000 soldiers. The second option, which is less “aggressive”, would involve only one battalion being stationed in the area. In both cases, the unit would be under the Alliance’s command. The first option is supported by the United States and other member-states but not from Germany, which is supporting the second one. This is due to the fact that, despite the situation in Ukraine, foreign policy makers from Germany and other NATO countries do not want Moscow to be considered a long-term enemy, excluded from the European politics. Although one or four battalions would not be in a position to deter or even stop a Russian aggression, Germany and other countries consider that they are giving the wrong political message for the future. One that could provoke further escalation from Moscow. Nevertheless, even though this quite stands true, NATO wants to reassure its Eastern European members of its commitment to protect them from acts against their security and sovereignty. As an alternative, some of the member-states consider a real deterring factor, the capability to quickly deploy forces in these countries. In any case, NATO and the mostly the US, are looking into rotating forces in the area, in order to cut the costs and the procedures required to authorize the deployment of permanent forces and construction of installations. Most importantly, rotational forces do not violate the 1994 agreement between NATO and Russia, which prohibits the Alliance from having permanent forces close to Russia’s borders. |
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