World / Europe Nato to add new military headquarters in US and Germany BL PREMIUM

Brussels — Nato will make the US and Germany the locations for two new military headquarters that mark the first upgrade of the alliance’s command structure since the end of the Cold War, according to officials. The US will host a planned Nato command centre focused on maritime security in the Atlantic and Germany will be the site of a centre responsible for troop movements in Europe, the Brussels-based officials said, on condition of anonymity. The plan, due to be discussed by Nato defence ministers at a February 14-15 meeting in the Belgian capital, stems from their decision to increase the number of military headquarters run by the alliance to nine from seven, made in November. The plan for two additional Nato headquarters reverses years of steady cutbacks in the alliance’s command structure amid renewed Russian muscle-flexing, including encroachment in Ukraine where Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and the government in Kiev battling Kremlin-backed separatists in the eastern part ...