NATO Chief Admits Massing Tens of Thousands of Troops on Russian Border Since 2014
© AP Photo / Yoan Valat
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NATO has transformed its eastern flank from having no combat-ready troops in place in 2014 to tens of thousands now, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.
"We have, over these ten years [since 2014 that he took over], undergone the biggest transformation in a generation. We have strengthened our defenses, from having zero to tens of thousands combat-ready NATO soldiers on our eastern flank, from thousands to half a million troops on high readiness and from 3 to 23 allies spending at least 2% of GDP on defense," Stoltenberg said during a session named "Reflections on a Challenging Decade," hosted by the German Marshal fund in Brussels.
In recent years, Russia has witnessed unprecedented NATO activity near its western borders. Moscow has repeatedly expressed concern about the bloc's buildup of forces in Europe, especially since the bloc supported the Kiev regime amid its attacks on Donbass.
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Since the start of Russia's special military operation, NATO countries have supplied Ukraine with military equipment. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that any Western weapons in Ukraine will become legitimate targets for Russian strikes.
In an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson earlier in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow had no intentions of attacking any NATO countries. Putin added that NATO countries were trying to intimidate their own populations with an imaginary Russian threat.
