NATO to form rapid-response force amid tensions in Ukraine, Middle East

BRUSSELS NATO officials said Tuesday that they will form an interim military force equipped to deploy quickly if the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East spill across borders.

The spearhead force, formally known as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, will use 3,000 to 4,000 troops from Germany, Norway and the Netherlands. It is expected to be ready early next year and marks NATOs biggest military expansion since the Cold War.

The decision to have a rapid-reaction force in place soon is a tacit recognition of how events on the periphery of nations that are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have outpaced the alliances ability to respond.

NATO decided at its summit in September that it needed a permanent rapid-response force of as many as 6,000 troops, reflecting growing concerns among foreign ministers from all 28 alliance members, including U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry.

But with Russian troops helping pro-Kremlin rebels in Ukraine, Russian military planes repeatedly probing NATO airspace, and Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq posing a threat to alliance member Turkey, NATO decided that it could not wait a year for a permanent force to be ready.

The Associated Press reports that thousands of businesses have been seized from their owners in Crimea under new pro-Moscow leaders since the region was annexed in March. (AP)

Monday, several officials expressed alarm about the potential for a broader confrontation with Russia after Moscow announced that it will increase military exercises next year.

What we are doing is in response to Russia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. More military presence on the border, more staff exercises, more military activities in the air increase the danger, from accidents and misunderstandings, that the situation can spiral out of control.

Kerry said every country in the alliance needs to help defend NATOs borders.

Declaring that every ally has to pull their weight, he said: We cant have 21st-century security on the cheap.

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NATO to form rapid-response force amid tensions in Ukraine, Middle East