BRUSSELS NATOs crisis response capabilities will be the primary focus of discussion for alliance defense chiefs gathered here for two days of talks that will examine how tensions with Russia will shape NATO in the future.

One of the most pressing issues which the chiefs of defense will consider is the implications of Russias actions in and around Ukraine, said Gen. Knud Bartels, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, in an opening statement Wednesday. Russias annexation of territory in a sovereign nation on NATOs borders has to cast a shadow of insecurity across the Alliances eastern flank and has potentially serious implications for the region and beyond.

Defense chiefs also were slated to meet on Wednesday with Ukrainian military officials, where closed-door discussions were expected to focus on NATO support for Ukrainian military reform efforts.

The turmoil in Ukraine comes as NATO is winding down its combat mission in Afghanistan, which will conclude at the end of the year. While planning continues for a small, post-2014 training mission in the country, the downsizing in Afghanistan means NATO can turn more attention to other regions, Bartels said.

The end of NATOs ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) operation this year brings with it a potential strategic inflection point and the opportunity and capacity for the alliance to refocus its military capability towards a broader range of potential future threats, Bartels said. As we have seen in recent months, the global security situation remains fragile and unpredictable, and the alliance is increasingly surrounded by an arc of instability from Ukraine, to Syria to the Sahel.

Meanwhile, questions have emerged over NATOs readiness to respond should Russia seek to flex its muscle in other parts of the Continent.

If Russia were to launch a surprise attack on a country bordering a NATO nation, the alliance would struggle to generate an immediate response, according to an internal alliance memo obtained by the German magazine Der Spiegel.

Russias ability to undertake significant military action with little warning presents a wider threat to the maintenance of security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area, according to the memo, which Spiegel stated was prepared ahead of the defense ministers meeting. Russia can pose a local or regional military threat at short notice at a place of its choosing. This is both destabilizing and threatening for those allies bordering or in close proximity to Russia.

Most security experts consider a Russian incursion into the Baltics as highly unlikely. But its ability, at the least, potentially to stir unrest has those countries, which were annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II, nervous. Although as NATO members they are covered by Article Five of the NATO charter, which calls for alliance members to respond to an attack on a member state, thats hardly reassuring with Russias forces so close and NATOs so far.

NATOs eastern members with proximity to Russia and Ukraine have been urging NATO to bulk up its presence in the region. In Poland, top government officials have called on NATO to permanently base troops in its country. Baltic allies also have been eager for more military support.

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NATO defense chiefs to review alliance readiness