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NATO commanders have been told to leave and figure out how to deploy new battle groups in southeastern Europe. But what are they?
Battle groups are “combat-ready” military groups made up of forces from different NATO countries working together. They include artillery, tanks and infantry, among other specialized skills.
They are what NATO calls an “increased presence forward” in response to the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 – and constitute “the greatest reinforcement of the alliance’s collective defense in a generation.”
There are four at the moment, based on:
Estonia: Led by the UK with around 1000 troops – mostly from the UK, but with several hundred soldiers from Denmark, based on 2020 data from NATO.
Latvia: Canada leads this group of 1,500 troops, made up of approximately one-third of Canadian troops, but with soldiers from Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Italy and others.
Lithuania: About 1,200 troops, more than 500 of which come from Germany, with representatives from France, the Netherlands and Norway, among others.
Poland: Led by the United States, which provides about 670 troops – with the remainder of its 1,000-strong troop consisting of Croatia, Romania and the UK.
Three of these countries border Russia, while Poland is just one country away (and borders Ukraine). They are among the ‘points of pain’ when Russia complains about American and foreign troops near its border.
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