NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance will respond if there is an attack on any ally country such as Poland or the Baltic states, and Stoltenberg's comments come after NATO activated its rapid reaction force for the first time in light of the war waged by Russia on Ukraine.
In an interview with PBS, Stoltenberg said that NATO is the strongest military alliance in history and will defend every inch of it, adding that the alliance is strengthening its forces in its eastern flank by land, air and sea.
However, he stressed that NATO would not send troops to fight on the ground in Ukraine, which is under a third day of a Russian attack, considering that the situation would have been worse if the alliance had gone to Ukraine, which was seeking to join NATO.
And on the sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, Australia and Japan on Russia, Stoltenberg said they will have long-term consequences.
deploy forces
And the Secretary-General of NATO announced yesterday evening, Friday, during a press conference in Brussels, after a summit of the alliance held via video technology, that thousands of additional soldiers will be sent to the eastern part of NATO in the context of activating the rapid reaction force.
He pointed out that the NATO countries currently deploy more than 100 aircraft and 120 ships in the eastern wing, which includes countries bordering Russia, such as the Baltic states and Poland.
The Atlantic Rapid Response Force could number 40,000, but Stoltenberg said the alliance would not deploy the entire force.
The Wall Street Journal said it was not clear whether the NATO forces currently deployed in the Baltic states and Poland would have the ability to repel a possible Russian attack.
During the current month, Washington decided to deploy 12,000 additional soldiers in Europe to increase the size of its forces there to 100,000 soldiers.