Russia-Ukraine crisis: NATO ministers discuss boosting eastern flank forces

NATO defence ministers gathered Thursday for talks focusing on bolstering forces and deterrence along the military alliance's eastern borders to dissuade Russia from planning further aggression.

The battle by the Kremlin in Ukraine since February has led allies to rethink strategies and to agree that NATO forces should be present in greater numbers on that flank. They have already beefed up the deployment of troops and materials and want to guarantee a long-term presence of forces.

In response to the attack of Ukraine, NATO says it has placed over 40,000 troops under its direct command, mainly on the eastern flank.

NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said allies will take decisions on the scale of their posture for the longer term "to ensure that we can defend every inch of Allied territory."

The meeting of defence ministers came ahead of a June 29-30 NATO summit in Madrid that will seek to set a determined course for the alliance in coming years.

Germany has already announced its plans to strengthen its engagement in Lithuania, while France wants to increase its presence in Romania, where it plans to have deployed 1,000 troops reinforced with Leclerc tanks by the end of the year.

Artis Pabriks, the Latvian defense minister, said the military alliance should position larger armed forces and material in Baltic countries.

"We want an improved planning, we want a headquarters structure, we want pre-positioning of different types of equipment, so if a crisis would come we should not wait," he said.

Discussions in Brussels will also focus on the need for more defence spending, Stoltenberg said, with the bids from Sweden and Finland to join the alliance also on the table.