International security

NATO to send ‘combat-ready’ battalions near Russian border

NATO defense ministers have agreed to send 4,000 troops to Poland and the Baltic States, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced here Tuesday, a decision that will likely rankle an increasingly aggressive Russia.

The same day of NATO’s announcement, Russia was set to begin a week-long series of snap readiness drills to ensure its troops were ready to mobilize in the event of a conflict. Russia’s drills come as dozens of NATO countries are participating in the largest military exercise in Poland since the end of the Cold War.

The plans to deploy the rotational force have been in motion since earlier this year. The troop contingent, composed of four battalions from the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and one other country that hasn’t been announced will deploy throughout Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland sometime in 2017.