New NATO secretary-general JensStoltenberg said on Sunday that the Western alliance coulddeploy its forces wherever it wants, apparently calling intoquestion post-Cold War agreements that have been shaken byRussia's actions in Crimea and Ukraine.

Stoltenberg was visiting NATO member Poland to reassure itthat NATO would provide the protection it sought against itsformer communist master, Russia, which in recent months hasannexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, and been accused bythe West of sending troops and equipment to back pro-Russianrebels in eastern Ukraine.

At a summit a month ago, NATO leaders agreed to set up a"spearhead" rapid reaction force that could be sent to a hotspotwithin days, and to pre-position equipment and supplies ineastern European countries to receive the force if needed.

But they rejected appeals from NATO members in EasternEurope, including Poland, to station thousands of troops therepermanently - partly because of the expense, and partly becausethey did not want to break a 1997 pact under which NATO promisedRussia it would not permanently station significant combatforces in the east.

Stoltenberg appeared to take a tougher line in Poland,however.

"Next year, at the ministerial meeting, we will takedecisions regarding the so-called spearhead but, even before itis established, NATO has a strong army after all. We can deployit wherever we want to," Stoltenberg told the state broadcasterTVP Info.

"These capabilities already exist. We have them, and we candeploy them in individual regions. And this is only an add-on towhat the alliance already has."

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, took over onWednesday as NATO secretary-general, at a time when the allianceis wrapping up its combat mission in Afghanistan but faces newchallenges from a resurgent Russia to the east and from IslamicState militants on the borders of Turkey, NATO's southernmostmember.

NATO has made clear it will not intervene militarily inUkraine, which is not an alliance member, but has reinforced thedefences of its eastern member states. Russia has repeatedlydenied sending forces or equipment to the rebels in easternUkraine.

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NATO can put troops wherever it wants, says new secretary general