Story highlights NATO to move to deploy about 4,000 multinational troops to Poland and the Baltic states

The deployment has long been sought by NATO's Eastern European members

Washington (CNN) NATO announced Monday that the alliance will deploy four multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, as tensions with Russia remain high in the wake of Moscow's intervention in Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg discussed the deployment at a news conference in Warsaw, Poland, prior to this week's gathering of alliance defense ministers.

"This will send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally," Stoltenberg said.

NATO's easternmost members, including Poland and the Baltic states, have long sought the increased presence of NATO troops in their respective countries, a request driven in part by Russia's 2014 military intervention and annexation of Crimea and because of Moscow's backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine.

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