NATO Defense Ministers decided to strengthen the Alliance’s defense and deterrence posture in Eastern Europe, including Romania, in a meeting held on Wednesday, February 10, in Brussels.

“NATO Defence Ministers agreed on an enhanced forward presence in the eastern part of our Alliance,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

The new military structure that NATO will deploy in Eastern Europe 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 stressed.

“It will be rotational and supported by a programme of exercises; and it will be complemented by the necessary logistics and infrastructure to support pre-positioning and facilitate rapid reinforcement. Our military planners will provide the advice on the size and composition of our enhanced presence this spring,” NATO’s Secretary General explained.

Further decisions will be taken at the Warsaw Summit in July.

Initial discussions suggest NATO could deploy up to 1,000 troops in each of the six countries that the alliance is looking to reinforce: Lithuanian, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania, according to Reuters.

The US also plans to rotate more troops in Eastern Europe. The Obama administration last week asked for a military budget of USD 3.4 billion for Eastern Europe in 2017, up from USD 789 million this year. The Pentagon plans to use the extra funds to bring more military gear in NATO member countries in Eastern Europe.

The Defense Ministers of NATO’s member states also analyzed on Wednesday the steps made so far for the implementation of NATO’s Readiness Action Plan. “We agreed that we have accomplished a lot,” Stoltenberg said.

“We have increased NATO’s presence in the eastern part of the Alliance, - with enhanced air policing, maritime patrols and robust exercises. We have agreed on assurance measures for Turkey – with Patriot batteries, AWACS surveillance planes, and an enhanced maritime presence in the Eastern Mediterranean and in the Black Sea. We have tripled the size of the NATO Response Force to more than 40,000 troops, with the new Spearhead Force at its core. And we have activated six small headquarters in our eastern Allies, and are setting up two more,” he highlighted.

One of these small headquarters is located in Romania. NATO also activated the Multinational Corps Southeast in Romania, in December 2015.

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editor@romania-insider.com