NATO has made progress in strengthening its eastern flank, with four new multinational battle groups in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria reaching their first level of combat readiness. This was announced by the DPA news agency, citing a spokesman for the North Atlantic Alliance.

Initially, NATO did not announce the exact composition and number of combat groups that will be created on the eastern flank. According to the latest information from the DPA, there are already 2,100 troops in Slovakia from countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the United States. 800 troops from Croatia are stationed in Hungary, 900 from the United States in Bulgaria and 3,300 from France, Belgium, Italy and the United States in Romania. The new battle groups are designed to further strengthen deterrence and defense capabilities amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The agency emphasizes that so far NATO has had permanent multinational units only in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as in Poland. Such combat groups typically number between 1,000 and 1,200 troops but have recently increased significantly due to events in Ukraine.

According to a statement issued after the extraordinary NATO summit in late March, the Alliance will set up four additional multinational battlegroups in Europe in response to a special Russian military operation in Ukraine. The document notes that in response to Russia's actions, NATO's defense plans have been launched, elements of the NATO Response Force have been deployed, and 40,000 troops are stationed on NATO's eastern flank. In addition, four more multinational battle groups are being set up in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. At the same time, it was stated that the Alliance's steps “remain preventive, proportionate and do not aim at escalating the crisis”.

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/DPA, BGNES