NATO Considering Permanent Presence in the East, Telegraph Says

(Bloomberg) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said military commanders are working on plans for a permanent troop presence on the alliance’s eastern border in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Telegraph reported, citing an interview.

Stoltenberg said NATO is envisaging a “reset” that would shift the role of troops in eastern European member countries from serving as a tripwire in case of a Russian attack to becoming a full-fledged deterrent, according to the newspaper.

Decisions are expected at a summit of NATO countries in June, he said.

“We have the time now until the summit to make more longer-term decisions,” Stoltenberg was quoted as saying. “This is part of the reset which we have to make, which is to move from tripwire deterrence – which is the current concept – to something that is more about deterrence by denial or defense.”  

Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, told a congressional hearing on Tuesday that he could envisage permanent NATO bases in countries such as Poland, Romania and the Baltic republics to host a rotating troop presence.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week there’s no decision on “permanent basing forward or additional rotational forces in and out” or a combination of both. “These are things that have to be worked out” and “we’ll work with NATO on this,” he told a Senate hearing in Washington on Thursday. 

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