NATO activates six command units on eastern flank with Russia

https://in.news.yahoo.com/nato-activates-six-command-units-131058664.html

NATO on Tuesday activated command units in six central and eastern European members to boost defence amid regional tensions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Lithuania’s defence ministry said.

“NATO today officially activated NATO force integration units in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania,” ministry spokeswoman Asta Galdikaite told AFP.
The Baltic nation’s foreign minister Linas Linkevicius said the move was “a clear sign that NATO takes it’s commitments very seriously”.
“It is a clear message both to allies and, of course, opponents who have recently increased the tensions,” the minister told AFP, without directly naming Russia.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will attend ceremonies in Vilnius Thursday formally inaugurating the string of units, an alliance statement said.
The six multinational units with around 40 officers each were set up to facilitate the deployment of the newly forged NATO rapid reaction force and coordinate military drills.
It is the latest NATO move to boost defences in the eastern flank since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last year.
NATO has increased the number of military exercises, deployed planes and ships while the US pledged to keep heavy weapons in the region that lay behind the Iron Curtain a quarter of a century ago.
Latvia confirmed Tuesday that two US Army Predator surveillance drones and 70 airmen had deployed to its Lielvarde Air Base for a training mission.