NATO chief says dialogue with Russia impossible as he ups rapid reaction troops to 300,000

North Atlantic Treaty Organization's [NATO] Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on June 27 underscored the defensive military alliance's new 'Strategic Concept,' dismissing any possibility of dialogue with Moscow to find a diplomatic path forward in course of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Instead, the NATO chief clarified that the Alliance plans to increase its rapid reaction troops on 'high readiness' from 40,000 to 300,000, in what he described as the fundamental shift in NATO’s deterrence and defence. "I expect it will make clear that Allies consider Russia as the most significant and direct threat to our security," he said ahead of a key summit in Madrid later this week. 

"NATO will increase the number of rapid reaction forces from 40,000 to 300,000 people," Jens Stoltenberg stressed, adding that the new strategy of NATO will address China for the first time.

"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 to enhance  battlegroups in the East up to brigade-levels

The intergovernmental military alliance also vowed to provide more support to Georgia and to hold additional training exercises with the armed forces of Tbilisi. NATO is prepared to enhance its battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance up to brigade-levels, Stoltenberg furthermore emphasized. This would also include enhancing pre-positioned equipment, and stockpiles of military supplies as well as the forward-deployed capabilities, like air defence. These NATO troops will be pre-assigned to defend specific Allies. Alliance is also ready to consider the bids of Sweden and Finland to join NATO, Stoltenberg notified.

NATO's new strategy constitutes the biggest overhaul of its collective deterrence and defence since the Cold War. The Western military alliance also pledged to boost the spending to well over 350 billion US dollars extra by the end of the year, implementing  allies "agreed defence investment pledge" made in 2014. "We will also agree to invest more together in NATO for the benefit of our security," the NATO chief asserted. He further informed that Ukraine's President Zelenskyy will join the upcoming NATO Summit. The Alliance has and its allies have provided substantial support [arms] to Ukraine since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, Stoltenberg revealed. 

NATO has activated eight battlegroups based in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria. These troops will be reinforced by "pre-designated" units from other alliance countries, where heavy armaments will be pre-positioned, the NATO chief told a news conference in Brussels.