NATO Countries Send Reinforcements to Eastern Europe

Amid Russia’s military buildup near the borders of Ukraine, a number of NATO member countries have announced their intention to send additional military equipment to the alliance deployments in Eastern Europe. NATO allies are putting their armed forces on alert and sending additional ships and fighters to Eastern Europe. This was announced on Monday, January 24, by the North Atlantic Alliance, explaining that such measures were taken amid Russia’s military buildup “in and around Ukraine.” So, according to the report, Denmark will send a frigate to the Baltic Sea and is going to transfer four F-16 fighter jets to Lithuania to support the NATO mission to protect airspace in the region. Spanish ships will join the grouping of the alliance’s naval forces, in addition, Madrid is considering the possibility of sending fighters to Bulgaria. France has expressed its readiness to send troops to Romania under NATO’s command. The Netherlands intends to transfer two F-35 fighter jets to Bulgaria in April and are alerting the ship and ground units for the NATO response force. The United States has also made it clear that it is considering bolstering its military presence in Eastern European countries. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the allies’ intention to provide additional forces to the organization. “NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to protect and defend all allies, including by strengthening the eastern part of the alliance. We will always respond to any deterioration of our security environment, including through strengthening our collective defense,” Stoltenberg said. DW