NATO deploys troops to Eastern Europe over Ukraine crisis

(Vatican Radio) The NATO military alliance says it will immediately deploy additional forces in Eastern Europe amid growing fears of a full-scale Russian military invasion in Ukraine, after clashes in the country's east. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday that the alliance wanted to strengthen its military footprint along the eastern border, in response to what he called Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

"We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water, and more readiness on the land," he said. "For example, air policing aircraft will fly more sorties over the Baltic region. Allied ships will deploy to the Baltic Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere, as required."

Additionally, "Military staff from Allied nations will deploy to enhance our preparedness, training and exercises," Rasmussen added.

"We call on Russia to be part of the solution. To stop destabilising Ukraine, pull back its troops from the borders and make clear it doesn't support the violent actions of well armed militias of pro-Russian separatists."

NEIGHBOURS CONCERNED

NATO's eastern members Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland had asked for a stronger military presence amid regional security concerns, after neighboring Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

Additionally, on Wednesday, armoured vehicles carrying Russian flags were seen in eastern Ukraine, including in the eastern the town of Slaviansk, stopping outside the town hall, which is occupied by pro-Russian separatists.

Among them were apparently troops from a Ukrainian airborne division who switched allegiance.

“The Russian flag which represents all Slav nations is now flying from our vehicles. We don’t need a Ukrainian one,” a soldier said.

“I am from the Donetsk region, I will not say whereabouts. The tanks are from the Soviet Union they used to belong to the Ukrainian army.”

GOVERNMENT TROOPS

Yet, just 15 kilometers away, Ukrainian government troops drove some seven armoured personnel carriers flying the Ukrainian flag into the town of Kramatorsk after securing control of a nearby airfield from rebels on Tuesday.

Ukraine's military action prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to warn of the risk of civil war in this former Soviet nation. However the West has accused Moscow of fueling tensions as part of a wider plan to eventually invade eastern Ukraine. NATO says there are as many as 40.000 Russian troops massed along Ukraine's borders.

Listen to the report from correspondent Stefan Bos: