Russia Creates New Military Divisions to Respond to NATO Buildup

NATO Secretary General Insists Buildup 'Defensive'

Russia’s Defense Ministry has announced its intention to create three new military divisions for its westernmost territory in response to NATO’s announcement last week of another 4,000 ground troops to be deployed along the Russian border.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg insists that NATO’s deployments were a response to Russia’s “use of force against Ukraine in 2014,” which both happened two years ago and has been in a state of ceasefire for well over a year.

NATO has used Ukraine as an excuse for repeated buildups along the Russian border, and while Stoltenberg insists all those troops are purely “defensive,” Russia is clearly feeling the need to respond after half a dozen such major deployments.

Russia has not said where the new troops are to be deployed, but they will likely be in the exclave of Kaliningrad, at least in part, as much of the NATO deployment is along the Polish border with that territory.

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.