BERLIN, November 14 (Sputnik) – NATO has already increased its presence near the Russian border, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview to the German Bild newspaper published Friday.
Stoltenberg told the paper, that NATO is currently moving more military units to Eastern Europe and performing more patrol flights at the external borders.
The NATO chief also said that the alliance conducts new military drills every two days.
Stoltenberg explained NATO's increased presence in Eastern Europe by saying that there was a need to prevent the Ukrainian developments from growing into a new Cold War.
He noted that the alliance no longer enjoys trustworthy cooperation with Russia, as Russia has undermined the security basis in Europe.
Over the past few months, NATO has been placing additional forces in the Baltics after a political crisis erupted in Ukraine and Crimea reunified with Russia in March.
On April 1, NATO ended all practical cooperation with Russia over Ukraine, only maintaining contacts at ambassadorial and higher levels.
Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the increasing and excessive NATO military presence close to its borders.
In late September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called NATO expansion in Eastern Europe a "mistake" and a "provocation" that undermines the whole European security system.
