You're reading: Breedlove: NATOs actions are defensive

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Philip M. Breedlove has said that the NATO's actions to strengthen its military footprint along its eastern border are defensive.

 “All the actions that we proposed and that have been accepted today
are clearly defensive in nature and I think it is going to be very
straightforward to see them as defensive in nature,” he told reporters
in Brussels on April 16.

“We have seen a Russian force that exercised, brought itself to high
readiness, positioned itself on a border, and then came across an
international border and posed its will on a sovereign nation and now
has annexed a portion of that sovereign nation. That changes things. We
need to take measures to assure our allies of our complete
commitment to our Article 5 collective defense and that’s what these
measures today are about,” he said.

He said that alliance members have presented concrete initiatives on the ground, sea and air forces.

The general said that his short-term task is to guarantee that the measures taken will be stable until December 31.

It is important that all states are taking part in this, and we have reliable possibilities to implement the measures, he said.

Breedlove did not disclose concrete figures, locations, etc. He said that they would be discussed in coming days.