Ukraine war: NATO plans permanent troop presence on Russia's border

Created: 06/12/2022, 09:52

By: Daniel Dillman

NATO wants to set up permanent bases on the alliance's eastern flank to counter the "unpredictability of the Kremlin".

• Reactions to the war:

  Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO is planning to permanently increase its troop presence on the eastern border.

• Negotiations on enlargement:

  The Ukraine war ensures that Sweden and Finland also want to join NATO.

  Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg travels to both countries for further talks.

• Strained relationship

  : The Ukraine conflict is straining relations between the military alliance and Moscow.

  All developments in the news ticker.

Brussels - Due to the ongoing Ukraine war, NATO wants to permanently and significantly increase its troop presence in the eastern member states.

This was confirmed by the deputy secretary general of the military alliance, Mircea Geoana, at an event in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday (June 10).

Geoana declared the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act “void” after Russia began invading Ukraine.

Now NATO is no longer bound by the decisions written there.

According to Geoana, in the face of the Ukraine war, NATO is planning to significantly increase the troop presence on the eastern border.

They are working on a "fundamental transformation of NATO", which also includes a significantly increased "presence of ground troops".

The NATO member states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are in close proximity to Russia.

But also in Turkey and Romania, both also members, larger troop formations are to be stationed.

German NATO soldiers in front of a Leopard 2 tank in Lithuania.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa

NATO should permanently station troops on the eastern border

In addition, other countries want permanent stationing of NATO troops within their own borders due to the Russian aggression in Ukraine - especially Poland.

During a speech at the end of May, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for NATO to set up a permanent base "in the countries of NATO's eastern flank".

His country would be available for this: "Poland is ready to permanently build such bases to accommodate light infantry units," Morawiecki told the US magazine Stars and Stripes.

Representatives of the US Army, which provides by far the largest part of the NATO troops, are increasingly calling for the stationing of larger troop formations as a deterrent.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "My advice would be to establish permanent bases in the East."

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

also read

Urgent medical emergency for Putin?

"Nausea, weakness, dizziness" and a clear doctor's order

German arms fiasco in Ukraine deliveries: Scholz apparently surprised everyone - with dire consequences

NATO expansion: Stoltenberg travels to Sweden and Finland

Meanwhile, NATO continues to seek new members.

Specifically, the accession of Finland and Sweden is on the agenda.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is therefore traveling to both countries this Sunday (June 12).

Finland and Sweden had applied to join NATO in May under the impression of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

All 30 member countries must agree to a country joining NATO.

However, NATO member Turkey is threatening to veto it.

In Naantali, Finland, Stoltenberg meets President Sauli Niinistö.

(dil/dpa)