The Yamal, a Ropucha-class landing ship of the Russian Navy, fires rockets during Navy Day celebrations in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on July 27, 2014. YURI LASHOV/AFP/Getty Images

BRUSSELS -- With NATO officials calling Russia more unpredictable now than during the Cold War, alliance defense ministers on Thursday are expected to approve further measures to enhance the organization's ability to deter and, if necessary, respond to military threats from Moscow, officials said.

Adam Thomson, Britain's permanent representative to NATO, predicted "an encouraging degree of alliance commitment" that will demonstrate "NATO is strengthening its military posture in response in particular to the challenge that Russia's behavior represents."

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As outlined by NATO officials, key decisions expected at the Brussels gathering of U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and counterparts from the other 27 NATO member countries include:

- Upgrading the existing NATO Response Force to make it bigger, more capable and more quickly deployable. Now 40,000-strong, it has been sent into action just once - for earthquake relief 10 years ago in Pakistan - and has been deemed unfit for NATO's current needs.

- Firm commitments from some of NATO's European members to act as "framework" nations for the new and fastest-moving element of the Response Force, commonly known as "the spearhead," which officials now say will include around 5,000 land-based troops.

- An official go-ahead for a proposal to establish small NATO command and control facilities in the three Baltic republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - and Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, to improve coordination and planning, and in case of need, help smooth the way for fast deployment of the spearhead unit and follow-on NATO reinforcements.

-Expansion of a multinational headquarters in Poland that is designed to play a key role in the defense of NATO territory in northeastern Europe.

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NATO eyes measures to respond to military threats from Moscow