Russia may not stop with Ukraine, NATO Protects Poor Point

The speed of German warships showed how Russian offensive to Ukraine pushed him NATO and Berlin towards a new reality, as they faced the most serious threat to collective security since the Cold War. On board the Elbe ship at the port of Riga, German Navy Commander Terje Schmitt-Eliassen said the mission's goal was to show presence in the eastern Baltic. We'll be 12 units from six countries to show our presence in the eastern Baltic. We co-operate with neighbouring countries and will then move on to the main task; protected by mines”, he says.

A total of 12 NATO battleships with about 600 sailors aboard are expected to launch a mine-clearing operation located on the Baltic bed since World War II amid concerns that Russia's ambitions could expand in this region after Ukraine. That would include NATO in a direct confrontation with Moscow.

Founded in 1949 to protect against the Soviet threat, the alliance appears to have returned to the past of the mechanised war, the enormous increase in budget spending, and possibly the new iron curtain around Europe. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia that joined the alliance after the collapse of the Soviet Union have only one land link with NATO's main territory.

A 65 sq km corridor is packed between the Russian armed region of Kaliningrad in the West and Belarus in the east. So the aim of the mission led by the German commander is to keep the sea passage open as a supply route for both non-member states, such as Finland and Sweden.

NATO has also transferred 5 aircraft carriers to European waters -- Norway and the Mediterranean -- has increased the number of warplanes in alliance space and doubled its combat units in Baltic and Poland. The US is also moving more military equipment to Europe, including tools and weapons to Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland that can be used immediately by newly arrived American troops. / A2 CNN