Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced 300,000 troops would be put on “high alert” to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine and in Europe:
NATO will put 300,000 troops on high alert and the US will establish a permanent headquarters in Poland and station more F-35 aircraft in the UK to deter Russia https://t.co/xtZ1UF235J
— Bloomberg (@business) June 29, 2022
But, according to reporting from the Washington Post, these 300,000 troops are actually just “theoretical” and more of a “‘concept,’ a hope”:
On Monday, NATO announced it would put 300,000 troops on high readiness.
That was a surprise to some allies.
Turns out, the number is theoretical. There are no troops yet, a NATO official conceded. The number is a 'concept,' a hope. https://t.co/nnwVB85sjc
— Emily Rauhala (@emilyrauhala) June 30, 2022
LOL. “Number magic” at work:
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“Maybe it’s number magic?” said one senior European defense official…
“Those 300,000 high-readiness NATO troops? ‘Concept,’ not reality.” h/t @emilyrauhala https://t.co/dXQXz0zGKl
— Franz-Stefan Gady (@HoansSolo) June 30, 2022
Good job, everyone:
“Even the 300,000 total is theoretical for the moment: ‘The concept has not been fully worked up yet’” https://t.co/qcavhnkVpF
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) June 30, 2022
From the Washington Post:
A NATO official, speaking on the condition of anonymity per the alliance’s ground rules, said that country-specific numbers still needed pinning down. Even the 300,000 total is theoretical for the moment: “The concept has not been fully worked up yet,” the official said. “We will have to do more to build up the model before we can work out what national commitments can be.”
It certainly didn’t sound just “theoretical” when Stoltenberg said it:
Stoltenberg: "At the Summit, we will strengthen our forward defences. We will enhance our battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance up to brigade-levels.
We will transform the NATO Response Force. And increase the number of our high readiness forces to well over 300,000"— Emily Rauhala (@emilyrauhala) June 30, 2022
Now, it’s a “work in progress”:
Official today: "It is a work in progress. We are working with allies and we will continue to work with allies… to identify forces to populate this model. We are not talking about forces that don’t exist."
— Emily Rauhala (@emilyrauhala) June 30, 2022
And so much for sending a strong message to Putin:
Official, pressed on how they got 300,000K: "That is the current estimate of what we need across regions and domains at that level of readiness to face the threats we face… We evidently would not come up with a number that bore no relationship to what we have."
— Emily Rauhala (@emilyrauhala) June 30, 2022
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