NATO leaders to discuss plans to bolster eastern flank

VILNIUS - NATO leaders will discuss plans to bolster the Alliance's eastern flank in a video summit on Friday, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"In the remote NATO summit, President Gitanas Nauseda will discuss the strengthening of the Alliance's deterrence and defense," Ridas Jasiulionis, the Lithuanian leader's spokesman, has told BNS.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that the Alliance was activating its defense plans drawn up after Russia's 2014 invasion and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Stoltenberg did not elaborate, but said that these were "defense plans" allowing deployments that "cover the whole east of our Alliance" and which "give our military commanders some more authority within politically defined guidelines".

He reiterated that NATO had no plans to send troops to Ukraine.

Friday's summit will also include non-NATO members Sweden and Finland, and EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.