NATO Approves Immediate Establishment of Command Centres

NATO's defence ministers approved at their meeting on Thursday the immediate establishment of six command and control units on its eastern flank.

The six countries that are to host the command centres are Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained that the units will ensure rapid deployment in case a crisis arises and will coordinate joint trainings and exercises.

The defence ministers also approved other measures for strengthening the Alliance's collective defence in view of the threats that have arisen from the east and south.

They agreed on enhancing NATO's Response Force through the establishment of a new Spearhead Force, which will have very high level of readiness.

The Spearhead Force will consist of a land brigade of around 5000 troops and will be supported by air, sea and special forces.

In case of a major crisis, the Spearhead Force will be reinforced by two more brigades.

The strengthened Response Force is foreseen to have around 30 000 troops in total.

The defence ministers also held a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission, reassuring their support for the country's efforts to modernise its armed forces.

The Alliance will deploy a team of experts to advise the country on its defence reforms and joint-NATO-Georgia Training Centre will be set up in Tbilisi.

The ministers began with an annual meeting of the Nuclear Planning Group, in which the nuclear deterrence policy of the Alliance was discussed.