NATO Summit: US will deploy 1,000 troops to Poland

NATO leaders agreed on Friday in Warsaw to deploy military forces to the Baltic states and eastern Poland for the first time in order to reassure its eastern partners and deter Russia.

The United States will send 1,000 troops to Poland, the UK will deploy 500 soldiers for a battalion based in Estonia, and Canada and Germany will lead two more in Lithuania and Latvia.

Speaking at a NATO summit in Warsaw, President Barack Obama said the troops would serve "shoulder to shoulder" with Polish forces. Elissa Slotkin, the US acting assistant secretary of defence for international security, said the troops would be in place some time next year. "Four battalions - that represents the largest movement of NATO personnel since the end of the Cold War," she said.

"These battalions will be robust and they will be multinational," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. "They make clear that an attack on one ally will be considered an attack on the whole alliance."

Stoltenberg said the deployment was not aimed at threatening or isolating Russia. "We do not want a new Cold War, we do not want a new arms race and we do not want confrontation," he said. "As we strengthen our deterrents and defence we continue to seek a constructive dialogue with Russia."