NATO has tripled the number of rapid reaction forces
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the tripling of the number of rapid reaction forces of the Alliance over the past three years. He stated this in an interview with Journal du Dimanche.
“After the crisis in Ukraine in 2014, the Alliance decided to proceed to a serious strengthening in recent years. We have three times increased the number of rapid reaction Forces NATO to 40 thousand people. Five thousand of them ready to deploy within a few days,” — said Stoltenberg.
According to him, NATO has stepped up exercises and air policing of the Baltic States.
Stoltenberg added that a serious threat to the countries of the block is cyber attacks, as a result, it was decided to consider cyberspace as a military environment. “Cyber defence is now an integral part of collective defence, which means that a serious cyber attack could lead to involvement of the Fifth article of the Charter of the Alliance, as an ordinary attack,” he explained.
These measures and the entry into NATO of two new command structures Stoltenberg explained the aggressive actions of Russia.
On 8 November it was reported that the Alliance mobilizes cyber capabilities of its members and to create a special centre. “We connect national cyberportal as other potentials. They will remain under national control, but will be an integral part of our operations,” — said Stoltenberg.