The Russians Are Coming: NATO’s Frontier

In the wake of events in Ukraine, NATO has turned its attention towards countries that border the Russian Federation — attempting to boost its quick-response capabilities in Europe. In September, the alliance agreed to create a 5,000-strong rapid reaction Spearhead Force, which will be capable of deploying across the continent within 48-hours of a military incursion. VICE News joined several thousand NATO troops in western Poland, for the first deployment test of the “Very High Readiness Joint Task Force.“ According to the premise of the exercise, Poland and the Baltics were under threat from the fictional state of “Bothnia” — a master of conventional and hybrid warfare. NATO forces had been ordered to deploy, and quickly, to Poland. During the deployment test, NATO’s top diplomat Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg flew in to watch its progress. He told VICE News that NATO was undertaking “the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.”