Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
Shoigu said NATO has increased its troop strength in Eastern Europe from 2,000 in 2014 to 15,000 currently and stepped up training activities. He said NATO has conducted more than 100 exercises involving 80,000 soldiers since the beginning of this year, and that the number of soldiers participating in exercises in the past 5 years has increased 10 fold, while the number of combat aircraft has increased from 11 to 101.