NATO Welcomes US Plans to Boost Forces in Europe

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Washington's intentions demonstrated a very strong unity in the alliance and "the strong transatlantic bond."

MUNICH (Sputnik) — NATO supports Washington's plans to boost the US military presence on the European continent, the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.

In early February, US Secretary of Defense Aston Carter said Washington would quadruple its funding to support the US posture in Europe, to reach $3.4 billion in 2017.

"I very much welcome the announcement of US plans to significantly increase presence in Europe with more troops, with positioning of heavy equipment with more exercise, with investment in critical infrastructure," Stoltenberg said in Munich, where a high-level international security conference is taking place.

He added that Washington's intentions demonstrated a very strong unity in the alliance and "the strong transatlantic bond."

The United States and NATO have been building up their combined military presence in Europe, particularly in Eastern European countries bordering Russia, using Russia's alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext for the move.

Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it is not a party to the Ukrainian conflict, and that military expansion toward Russia's borders increases tensions by threatening regional and international security.