Ahead of this week's NATO summit in Madrid, and against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that NATO States would increase the number of high-alert troops to "well over 300 thousand" troops.

Stoltenberg said: "We will strengthen our proactive defences. We will strengthen our battle groups in the eastern part of the Alliance to brigade levels

"We will transform NATO's response force and increase the number of our high-alert troops to well over 300 thousand."

It should be noted that, prior to this announcement, the number of these troops was only about 40 thousand, which appears to show the magnitude of Western concern over the Russian attack on Ukraine that began last February.

The NATO Rapid Response Force is called "NRF", and the name will be changed to "Allied Response Force" after the significant increase.

Stoltenberg confirmed that NATO forces would increase their deployment in European countries close to Russia.

NATO members will seek to strengthen air defences and increase stocks of military supplies, according to Stoltenberg.

The military alliance will change the language used vis-à-vis Russia, as it is a "strategic partner", in the 2010 strategy, will henceforth become the "greatest threat to our security".