In The Media

NATO moves to bolster capabilities to counter 'more assertive Russia'

by Levon Sevuntis (feat. Rob Huebert)

Radio-Canada International
June 7, 2018

Faced with “more assertive Russia,” NATO defence ministers are expected to agree to new measures aimed at bolstering the alliance’s ability to respond to new threats on land, on the high seas and in the cyber space, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced Thursday.

Defence ministers from 29 NATO members, including Canada’s Harjit Sajjan, are meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels for two-day talks set to approve beefing up personnel numbers at the alliance’s two new commands: the Atlantic Command in Norfolk, Virginia, and another one in Ulm, Germany to support military mobility in Europe.

Ministers are also set to approve a new initiative, dubbed the “Four Thirties,” to ensure that by 2020 NATO is able mobilize 30 land battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 combat vessels within 30 days or less, Stoltenberg said.