Ukraine, where NATO forces are deployed ready to intervene in the event of an invasion

Prior to 2014, NATO did not have an armed presence on its right flank. To change the picture that year was the Russian annexation of Crimea, which prompted the alliance to question its capacity for deterrence in the face of an increasingly assertive Kremlin. The turning point came with the Warsaw summit in July 2016, when the establishment of four battle groups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland was decided.