Emmanuel Macron poses alongside Biden at NATO summit

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During recent months the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has increased its military presence in member states that share borders near to Russia. The alliance has acted in an effort to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching further invasions beyond the current war in Ukraine.

Speaking ahead of an extraordinary meeting of NATO’s North Atlantic Council on Thursday the alliance’s General Secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, said he expected leaders to “agree to strengthen NATO’s posture in all domains”.

Mr Stoltenberg explained this will be achieved by deploying four new NATO battlegroups. These will be based in:

• Bulgaria
• Romania
• Hungary
• Slovakia

The General Secretary added: “Along with our existing forces in the Baltic countries and Poland, this means that we will have eight multinational NATO battlegroups all along the eastern flank. From the Baltic to the Black Sea.

“We face a new reality for our security. So, we must reset our deterrence and defence for the longer-term.”

NATO describes its battlegroups as “multinational, and combat-ready, demonstrating the strength of the transatlantic bond”.

Each battlegroup will be made up of forces capable of operating on land, in the air and at sea.

Their presence is designed to make clear that an attack on one Ally will be considered an attack on all 30 NATO members.

When NATO Heads of State meet in Brussels on Thursday they will reaffirm their support for Ukraine.

The provision of cyber-security assistance and equipment to help Kyiv protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats are all expected to be approved.

Leaders will also call on China to live up to its responsibilities as a member of the UN Security Council and refrain from supporting Russia’s war effort.

Mr Stoltenberg said Beijing should “join the rest of the world in calling for an immediate, peaceful end to this war”.

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Where are NATO troops deployed across Europe?

Across the entire alliance, NATO can count on nearly 3.5 million troops and other personnel.

Since 2014, the NATO Response Force (NRF), which is designed to provide a rapid military response in a crisis, has grown from 13,000 to 40,000 troops.

The majority of these forces have been stationed in eastern Europe to allay fears along the military bloc’s border with Russia.

Countries including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland already have large numbers of NATO military personnel posted within their borders.

For example, in Estonia the UK leads the NATO battlegroup operating near the town of Tapa.

As of March last year, the UK had 828 troops in the country, plus an armoured infantry battalion with main battle tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery, air defence equipment and engineers and an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance group.

But a week before President Putin’s forces invaded neighbouring Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence announced the UK would be doubling the number of personnel in Estonia, and sending additional equipment, including tanks and armoured fighting vehicles.

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