MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, Trump and Stoltenberg held their first meeting in the White House, during which they discussed issues ranging from US policy in Afghanistan to NATO’s approach to Russia in the Ukraine.
"The current administration, the president and the security team are very supportive of the adaptation of NATO, which includes more NATO forces in the eastern part of the alliance," Stoltenberg told the MSNBC broadcaster.
12 April 2017, 04:30 GMT
Following the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, NATO has been boosting its military presence in in Eastern European states, citing Russia's alleged interference in that conflict as justification for the move. A decision of the alliance to deploy four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was announced by Stoltenberg after the NATO summit in July 2016.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that amassing troops and military equipment on its borders is provocative, violates past NATO pledges, and can lead to regional and global destabilization.
