BRUSSELS: Nato defence ministers met on Thursday to sign off on a network of command centres in eastern Europe to rapidly reinforce the region in the event of any threat from Russia, as well as a bigger rapid reaction force and two new regional headquarters.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the measures, part of the alliance’s response to Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, amounted to “the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence” since the end of the Cold War 25 years ago.

With East-West tensions running at their highest since the Cold War era, Nato has made clear it will not intervene in Ukraine but will bolster the defences of nervous eastern allies who were under Moscow’s domination for four decades until 1989.

Ministers were expected to approve more than doubling the size of Nato’s existing rapid reaction force, to 30,000 soldiers from 13,000, and to flesh out details of a 5,000-strong “spearhead” force with a faster reaction time of only days.

The alliance will establish a new northeastern regional headquarters in Poland and a smaller southeastern headquarters in Romania.

Six command centres, staffed by national and Nato officers, will be set up in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the three Baltic states to plan exercises and organise reinforcements for those countries in an emergency.

The plan, which builds on decisions taken at Nato’s summit in Wales last September, falls short of the hopes of some eastern European countries for Nato to set up large bases in the region, but it raised concern in Russia.

“This is very worrying,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said of the rapid reaction force.

“This is about creating additional operational capabilities that would allow the alliance to react near the Russian borders ... Such decisions will naturally be taken into account in our military planning,” he said.

Britain announced it would lead the rapid reaction force in 2017, committing up to 1,000 troops, and would send officers to all eight new centres. Germany and France will also take turns leading the “spearhead” force.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told the meeting that Washington would provide staff officers as well as technical and logistical expertise to the new command centres.

Nato officials believe its measures comply with the alliance’s 1997 commitment not to permanently station substantial combat forces in eastern Europe while providing allies in the region with a visible assurance that the rest of Nato would come to their aid if they were attacked.

Ministers also discussed growing concerns within Nato about Russia’s nuclear strategy and indications that Russian military planners may be lowering the threshold for using atomic weapons in any conflict, diplomats said.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2015

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