Nato to massively increase high-readiness forces

MADRID: Nato will increase the number of its forces at high readiness massively to over 300,000, secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.

“We will transform the Nato response force and increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000,” he told reporters ahead of a Nato summit in Madrid later this week in Madrid. Nato’s quick reaction force so far has some 40,000 troops.

At the Madrid summit, Nato will also change its language on Russia that in the alliance’s last strategy from 2010 was still described as a strategic partner.

“That will not be the case in the strategic concept that we will agree in Madrid,” Stoltenberg said. “I expect that allies will state clearly that Russia poses a direct threat to our security, to our values, to the rules-based international order.”

Nato leaders will urge Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to lift his veto over Finland and Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance when they meet for a threeday summit on Tuesday, as the

West strives to send Russia and China a signal of resolve.

Taking place in the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Madrid gathering comes at a pivotal moment for the transatlantic bond after failures in Afghanistan and internal discord during the era of former president Donald Trump, who threatened to pull US out of the alliance.

Negotiations among an oftenfractious organisation are still under way, diplomats said, but leaders also hope to agree to provide more military aid to Ukraine, increase joint defence spending, cement a new resolve to tackle China’s military rise and put more troops on stand-by to defend the Baltics.

Spain, whose king will host a dinner for leaders, is also pushing for more Nato focus on the southern flank to address migration and militant groups in the Sahel region of Africa.

The leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea are expected to attend part of the summit, part of a broader US strategy for a more assertive Western presence in the IndoPacific region to counter China.

“We will do more to ensure we can defend every inch of allied territory, at all times and against any threat,” Stoltenberg said in a speech last week.

Although British and US officials have advised against a Baltic request for permanent multinational forces in the region, the summit is likely to settle on a compromise of promising rapid reinforcements.

Germany has already said it will put more troops at the ready to defend Lithuania should Russia seek to seize Nato territory and Britain is expected to do the same for Estonia, while Latvia is looking to Canada to pledge more troops there.