NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow called on the Alliance members to improve their deterrence capabilities, in order to discourage Russia and other potentially threatening countries from endangering the pact.
"We need to do more to help our eastern neighbors, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, as well as our partners in the Middle East", Vershbow said in Prague, while discussing the priorities for the July NATO summit in Warsaw.
Vershbow said that Russia has shown it is prepared to use force beyond its borders, to alter international borders and to destabilize sovereign countries, to meet its strategic goals.
The Alliance is preparing to beef up its presence in Poland and the three Baltic states, with permanent multi-national troop presence that should prevent Russia from trying to expand the hybrid warfare model from Ukraine further east.
Vershbow welcomed the commitment of the Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia) to participate in the deployment in the Baltics.