Italy intends to send its troops to Hungary or Bulgaria in order to strengthen NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe. This was reported on January 13 by the newspaper La Repubblica, citing its own sources.
“Thousands of Italian soldiers, which NATO is preparing to deploy on the southeastern front of Europe, are part of the infantry and mechanized units of our army,” the message says.
According to the newspaper, the units will engage in training activities on the southeastern border of NATO. According to the publication, the decision will be announced during a ministerial meeting in Brussels on February 16 and 17, where Italy will be represented by Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini. And the final decision to send the Italian military will have to be approved by the chambers of the country’s parliament.
On February 11, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the intention of the alliance to strengthen its presence in the eastern direction in connection with the tension around Ukraine. According to the Secretary General, there is allegedly a real risk of a military conflict in Europe.
In addition, in recent days, some European countries have begun moving their troops eastward due to the allegedly growing threat of a conflict in Ukraine. So, on February 10, the British government announced that the country would put another 1,000 troops on standby to support the alliance “in the event of a humanitarian crisis” on the eastern flank. In parallel, several other member countries of the organization, including France, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands, decided to send troops to strengthen the eastern flank of NATO.
On February 2, it became known about the forthcoming transfer of additional US forces to Romania, Poland and Germany. It was clarified that it was planned to send about 2 thousand troops to Poland and several thousand more in the direction of the southeastern flank of NATO.
Western politicians and media representatives have been spreading numerous speculations in recent months about possible Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Russian side has repeatedly denied statements about the alleged “invasion” of Kiev.
On January 28, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the country was not going to start a war with Ukraine, and Western countries and the United States were “hysterically” developing the topic of the threat from the Russian Federation instead of forcing Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements.