NATO troops going to Poland, Baltics

BRUSSELS — NATO’s chief announced Monday that the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland to boost their defenses against Russia.

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, said alliance defense ministers will formally approve the deployment plan drafted by NATO military planners at a meeting that begins today in Brussels.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, four of NATO’s members that feel most threatened by Russia, will each be reinforced by “a robust multinational battalion,” Stoltenberg told a news conference.

There was no immediate reaction from Moscow.