Nato to create 'spearhead' strike force to counter Russia

Nato will create a new high-readiness "spearhead" strike force that can be quickly deployed to the Baltic to respond to Russian aggression, officials have said.

The Nato Response Force will be a multinational unit including land, air, naval and special operation forces which can be "deployed anywhere in the world, for collective defence or crisis management," Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced ahead of the organisation's summit in Wales this week.

Rasmussen said that the 4,000-strong force would "travel light but strike hard".

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The creation of the force "responds to Russia’s aggressive behaviour," the Danish head of Nato said, but will also "equip the alliance to respond to all security challenges, wherever they may arise".

Nato said that once the force was established, it could be mobilised within 48 hours.

Russia is likely regard the creation of a high-readiness force as an aggressive move, The Guardian says. Nato has so far "struggled to find a response" to suspected Russian intervention in the Ukraine crisis that began in February. To date, the alliance's response to the crisis has been to conduct training exercises in the Baltic states.

The rapid-response force is an effort to address Nato's "lack of speed and flexibility", The Guardian says.

After the address, Russia announced that it would make alterations to its own military structure.

Mikhail Popov, a Kremlin adviser, said that the "deteriorating relations" with the US and Nato would be considered in its upcoming military overhaul, the BBC reports.

Popov, deputy secretary of Russia's National Security Council, said that "the military infrastructure of Nato member states" was "getting closer to our borders, including via enlargement".

Nato's actions were becoming one of the main "external threats" to Russia, he told Russia's RIA news agency.

"Nato's planned action... is evidence of the desire of US and Nato leaders to continue their policy of aggravating tensions with Russia," Mr Popov said.