The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

(Image: GETTY)

Russia is building a series of military sites along its frontier with Ukraine as part of its growing confrontation with Europe.

Meanwhile NATO has deployed 30,000 troops from more than 20 member countries in Poland for one of its largest training exercises since the Cold War.

It comes after Daily Star Online revealed that the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are prepared for an invasion from Russia.

(Image: EPA)

Russia has dropped out of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which limits deployment of weaponry on the continent.

Large numbers of newly-arrived soldiers and military vehicles have also been sighted in Klintsy, a Russian town 30 miles from the border with Ukraine.

Soldiers turned reporters away the area, saying it was a “special military site”, while a town council official said Klintsy was to host a newly-formed division.

The town sits at the heart of Bryansk Oblast, the part of Russia that sits closest to the Ukrainian capital Kiev, less than 200 miles away to the south.

NATO in turn has started the Anakonda-16 exercise in Poland, preparing for scenarios including a night-time helicopter assault and paratrooper drops.

The alliance has defended the exercises like Anakonda-16 by saying its a response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

Poland will also host a NATO summit next month in Warsaw, which is expected to approve stationing more troops in Eastern Europe.

Now the Kremlin has condemned the measures, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying they do not contribute to an atmosphere of trust in Europe.

It’s just the latest in a series of confrontations between Western powers and Russia, which yesterday saw a Russian submarine headed for the English channel intercepted.

America has responded by sending two more aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean Sea this month, in a move designed to balance Russian power and weaken ISIS.

The Kremlin has also been accused of escalating tensions by getting too close for comfort to American ships in the Baltic Sea.

While Turkey went to the brink of war with Russia when it last year shot down a fighter jet it says was over its territory.