BYDGOSZCZ, Poland (AP) – The upcoming NATO summit should send a message to member states that their national troops have the prime responsibility for the first-line defense of their countries, the alliance’s top military officer said Thursday.
Gen. Petr Pavel, chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, said the 28-member alliance has the “strength and the determination to cope with the challenges presented by Russia,” but the first forces to respond to a crisis will always be those of the affected nation.
Some 4,000 multinational troops that the NATO summit is to decide to deploy in the Baltic states and in Poland in the coming months are not the only defense that the alliance is mustering in the region concerned by Russia’s actions. Some observers in the region say the number is not very high.
“Defense in line with the NATO treaty starts with the countries,” Pavel said. “Article 3 is talking about the need for every country to do anything the country is possible to provide for its own defense.”
“If there is crisis … it will always be the nation who is affected to act as the first,” Pavel, Czech Army four-star general, told The Associated Press.