In its biggest transformation since the end of the Cold War, NATO is set to increase the number of its forces on high alert from 40,000 to 300,000. Speaking ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid this week, the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, also said the organization would boost troop deployments in European countries closest to Russia, which it now considers the “most significant and direct threat to our security.” News of NATO’s plans comes after G7 leaders issued a statement expressing “serious concern” after Russia announced “it could transfer missiles with nuclear capabilities to Belarus” on Saturday, TASS reports. Belarus’ self-styled dictator Alexander Lukashenko asked Putin to help his country develop a “symmetrical response” to what he claimed to be nuclear-armed NATO flights near Belarussian airspace.
