Additional NATO soldiers will be sent to Romania, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, after the US-led military alliance formally confirms the decision next week, Germany’s dpa news agency said on Friday.
The deployment has been considered since at least late January, but was reportedly met with resistance from some of the countries earmarked to host foreign soldiers.
The 30-member bloc came to an agreement on the new deployment this week and will formalize it next Wednesday, when a written plan would be approved at a meeting of NATO defense ministers, the German news agency said. The movement of troops may happen as soon as the spring, with the US and France likely to be the primary providers of boots on the ground.
The three Baltic states and Poland are already hosting thousands of soldiers from other NATO members in what the alliance describes as a measure to deter potential Russian aggression and reassure its Eastern European neighbors that the alliance will protect them. The ramp-up of military presence at Russia’s doorstep was justified by Washington and its allies, who for months claimed that Moscow could invade Ukraine soon.