NATO's Eastern Promises? - Demands for permanent deployment of NATO troops on the Alliance’s Eastern Flank risk divisions at a time when political unity is at a premium
NATO's Eastern Promises? - Demands for permanent deployment of NATO troops on the Alliance’s Eastern Flank risk divisions at a time when political unity is at a premium

Author(s): Michal Šimečka
Subject(s): Politics, International relations/trade, Security and defense, Military policy
Published by: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů
Keywords: NATO; security; troops; policy; eastern flank;
Summary/Abstract: Ahead of the June 2016 NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland and other new Member States are stepping up calls for the Alliance to expand its presence on their territories. The military logic is straight-forward: permanently stationed NATO troops would dispel any doubts about the credibility of NATO's Article 5, and decrease the likelihood of Russia's provocation or outright aggression. However, in the absence of a broad political agreement on such a sensitive move in the Alliance, the initiative could prove self-defeating, driving a wedge between Western and Eastern member states and undercutting NATO's fragile consensus on Russia.

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