The multinational NATO grouping near Russia’s borders with troops of extra-regional members of the alliance has grown 2.5 times since February, to over 30,000 people – and may increase further, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a joint board meeting of Russian and Belarusian military departments, RIA Novosti reported.
“Formations of armed forces of extra-regional NATO states are deployed in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as in the Baltic states. New multinational battalion tactical groups are created in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. Since February 2022 the number of grouping has increased by 2.5 times and makes over 30,000 people. In the near future it can still increase,” said the minister.
He noted that the intensification of confrontation with the West and build-up of a multinational grouping of NATO on the eastern flank threatens not only Russia directly. “Our allies, first of all, the brotherly Republic of Belarus, will also come under attack,” said the minister.
“At the end of June, at the NATO summit in Madrid a new strategic concept of the bloc was adopted, where the Russian Federation was named as the main source of security threats. In this regard, the alliance intends to move from “deterring Russia through a forward presence” to establishing a full-fledged collective defense system on the “eastern flank,” near our borders,” the minister said.
