NATO Announces New East Europe Buildup Aimed at Russia

Russian Envoy Warns Escalation Would Violate 1997 Treaty

Months after NATO officials started predicting the “imminent” Russian invasion of Ukraine and potentially the whole of Eastern Europe, nothing has happened on the ground. The rhetoric, however, remains very active, as do NATO’s plans for a military buildup across the region, explicitly aimed at Russia.

Today, NATO defense ministers announced a “readiness action plan” aimed at building up the militaries of NATO members in the east, as well as “speeding up reaction time” of Western nations to a war with Russia.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted the move was necessary because of Russia’s increase in military spending over the past five years, though Russia’s entire military budget is less than 10 percent that of NATO.

And while Russian troops may not be rolling through the verdant fields of Central Europe any time soon, NATO did at the very least manage to kick off a diplomatic row with their planned escalation, leading Russia’s NATO Ambassador to warn it was a violation of the 1997 treaty of cooperation between NATO and Russia.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.