Berlin. December 22. INTERFAX - The NATO command in connection with the crisis around Ukraine for the first time took concrete measures and increased the combat readiness of the rapid reaction forces consisting of 40 thousand people, the Welt newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed senior representative of the alliance.
According to the publication, in particular, the readiness period for deployment in the crisis zone of the Joint High-Readiness Task Force (VJTF), consisting of 6.4 thousand people and currently headed by Turkey, has been reduced from seven to five days.
The readiness level has also been increased for special operations forces and logistics services. However, the newspaper clarifies, we are not talking directly about sending to the crisis zone.
At the same time, Welt notes, these measures are being taken not only in connection with the crisis around Ukraine, but also to strengthen the defense of countries such as Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The publication claims that the corresponding decision was made last week by the North Atlantic Council.
Officially, NATO has not confirmed this information for Welt. The representative of the alliance repeated the point of view of NATO that "Russia's noticeable buildup of armed forces in Ukraine is both groundless and undermines the security of Europe." He called on the Russian Federation to show transparency, contribute to de-escalation of the situation and recalled that in the event of continued aggression of the Russian Federation in the alliance, they threatened "costs and consequences."
