Russia to reorganise troops to counter NATO activities

Russia would reorganise its armed forces to strengthen their mobility as NATO was increasing military activities near the country's western borders and in Ukraine, a senior Russian official said Tuesday.

"Due to the conflict in Ukraine and considerable NATO reinforcements on our country's west, we are currently working on proposals related to reorganising troops and army and fleet forces to increase their mobility," said Vladimir Komoyedov, head of the Defence Committee of the parliament's lower house, the Duma, reported Xinhua.

"We think that now our forces should be ready to respond promptly to new threats and challenges all around our borders," he said.

The strategy was aimed at enhancing military potentiality and troop mobility in all branches of the armed forces -- the air force, the navy and the army, Xinhua cited Interfax-AVN military news agency as saying.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Monday said that all measures taken by NATO were defensive, moderate, proportionate, transparent, and fully compliant with international commitments.

These measures were "not a threat to Russia and NATO is not a threat to Russia", Rasmussen said in a statement after an ambassadorial meeting of the NATO-Russia Council.

NATO has suspended all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia over the Ukraine crisis.