Nato chief Stoltenberg says bloc planning permanent military presence on eastern border
- Jens Stoltenberg said Nato is envisaging a ‘reset’ in a bid to fend off future Russian attacks
- He added decisions are expected at a summit of member countries in June
Stoltenberg said Nato is envisaging a “reset” that would shift the role of troops in eastern European member countries from serving as a tripwire in case of a Russian attack to becoming a full-fledged deterrent, according to the newspaper.
Decisions are expected at a summit of Nato countries in June, he said.
“We have the time now until the summit to make more longer-term decisions,” Stoltenberg was quoted as saying.
“This is part of the reset which we have to make, which is to move from tripwire deterrence – which is the current concept – to something that is more about deterrence by denial or defence.”
Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told a congressional hearing on Tuesday that he could envisage permanent Nato bases in countries such as Poland, Romania and the Baltic republics to host a rotating troop presence.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week there’s no decision on “permanent basing forward or additional rotational forces in and out” or a combination of both.
“These are things that have to be worked out” and “we’ll work with Nato on this,” he told a Senate hearing in Washington on Thursday.
