Madrid:
President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced US reinforcements to NATO forces in Europe, saying the alliance is needed more today than it has ever been.
NATO will be “strengthened in every direction in every area – land, air and sea,” he said at a transatlantic alliance summit to be held in Madrid.
Biden, who met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, said the additional troops include:
- Strengthening the fleet of US naval destroyers from four to six in Rota, Spain.
- A permanent headquarters in Poland of the 5th Army Corps.
- An “extra rotating brigade” in Romania, consisting of “3,000 fighters and another 2,000 combat team men.”
- Improved rotational implementations in the Baltic countries.
- Two additional squadrons of the F-35 stealth aircraft to Britain.
- “Additional air defense and other capabilities in Germany and in Italy.”
“Together with our allies, we will ensure that NATO is ready to face threats from all directions and in every area,” Biden said.
“At a time when (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has broken peace in Europe and the very, very principles of rules-based order have attacked the United States and our allies, we are going to stand up,” he said.
“We are stepping up and proving that NATO is needed now more than ever and important as it has ever been.”
Referring to NATO’s unity in accepting applications from formerly neutral Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, Biden said Putin’s strategy to invade Ukraine had backfired.
“That’s exactly what he didn’t want, but exactly what needs to be done to ensure security for Europe,” Biden said.
Stoltenberg noted that NATO expansion was “the opposite” of what Putin had hoped.
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