Beijing, 26 Feb (Xinhua) -- Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced after the meeting that NATO is dispatching its rapid reaction force to make a rapid response in order to respond quickly if necessary.
Stoltenberg said that NATO member states decided to launch a defense plan on the 24th, accordingly mobilizing some land, sea and air forces of NATO's rapid reaction force, but he did not explain where these forces would be deployed. According to Deutsche Presse, ground troops could be sent to Romania.
Stoltenberg also said that some of the troops of NATO's rapid reaction force will go to Norway for exercises, which is also the first time that NATO has deployed this force within NATO for the purpose of "deterrence" and "defense".
Romanian President Johannis (first from right) and NATO Secretary-General Jenniberg (second from right) talk to U.S. military soldiers at the Mikhail-Koganichanu military base in eastern Romania on Feb. 11. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Christier)
In an interview with French media on the 25th, the chief of the general staff of the French army, Thierry Burckhard, revealed that France is ready to send about 500 military personnel and a group of armored vehicles to Romania to cooperate with NATO's military measures to "clearly convey the signal of strategic unity".
"In view of the war in Ukraine," he said, France is prepared to maintain a military presence in Estonia, a NATO member adjacent to Ukraine, after March, with a continued presence of 200 to 250 soldiers and armoured vehicles.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the NATO meeting that after Russia's military action, it is necessary to increase the deployment of troops in NATO's Eastern European member states.
NATO said the redeployments were "preventive, appropriate and non-escalating."
On May 20, 2019, in Münster, Germany, the Leopard 2 tank of nato's rapid reaction force participated in a demonstration. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Shan Yuqi)
NATO formed a rapid reaction force in 2003 and now has a strength of 40,000 troops, including a "highly operational" force composed of land, air, sea and special operations forces.
The United States and NATO have previously stated that since Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the United States and NATO will not send troops to Ukraine to help Ukraine fight. However, several NATO members have supplied Arms to Ukraine while increasing their military presence in NATO's eastern member states.
By the time of the NATO emergency meeting, the first additional British soldiers and military vehicles carrying weapons and equipment had arrived at the Tapa military base in Estonia. The British plan to send more than 850 additional soldiers in total, and the British forces in Estonia will be roughly doubled.
Italy said it was prepared to send about 3,400 additional troops to nato's eastern members; Denmark announced it was prepared to send 20 additional F-16 fighters.
On October 5, 2014, at the Adatzh Military Base in Latvia, multinational force soldiers participated in the "Silver Arrow 2014" multinational joint military exercise. (Photo by Xinhua reporter Guo Qun)
U.S. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said on the 25th that the United States will send an additional 7,000 troops to Germany this week, and some troops are on standby in their own countries. He said the type and size of U.S. troops sent to Europe depended on NATO's specific needs.
He also stressed that the dispatch of the rapid reaction force is to protect NATO members, not to participate in the war in Ukraine.
NATO has increased its forces to the eastern border in the name of defense, ignoring Russia's security demands for a long time. The Russian side said that NATO's continued eastward expansion and the deployment of weapons threatened Russia's national security, and this practice must be stopped. Russia asked the United States and NATO last December to provide legal safeguards to rule out the possibility of further eastward expansion by NATO, but the United States and NATO did not address Russia's core security concerns in their responses. (Shen Min)