NATO is reportedly set to open a counterespionage hub in Poland by the end of this year.

A Polish Defense Ministry spokesman, Colonel Jacek Sonta, told AFP news agency that the new facility, called the NATO Counterintelligence Center of Excellence, will be established in the southern city of Krakow.

Sonta said it will aim at expanding the alliance's intelligence-gathering capabilities as it faced "threats from the east and south."

The announcement comes as the conflict in Ukraine has plunged Moscow's ties with the West to lows unseen since the Cold War.

Last month, NATO opened six small new headquarters along the alliance's eastern flank, aimed at helping on the ground with exercises and planning activities.

Russia said the move will "feed the artificially created climate of confrontation" in the relations with Moscow.

Based on reporting by AFP