(BRATISLAVA, Slovakia) — Slovakia’s Parliament has approved a NATO plan to deploy up to 2,100 troops on Slovak territory following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The plan is part of the NATO initiative to reassure member countries on the alliance’s eastern flank by sending forces to help protect them.
Germany is supposed to contribute the biggest number of soldiers, up to 700, to the multinational battlegroup. The Czech Republic follows with 600 and the U.S. will send up to 400. The Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia will also contribute troops.
Their deployment together with the Patriot air defense system will increase the defensive capabilities of Slovakia’s armed forces.
The alliance stationed troops in the Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — and Poland after the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula by Russia. After Russia attacked Ukraine, NATO decided to boost its presence along the entire eastern flank by deploying forces in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
