Jens Stoltenberg

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said June 22 the alliance will approve plans this week to more than double the size of its rapid response force, having already created a special spearhead unit in the fallout from the Ukraine crisis.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said June 17 the alliance was implementing its biggest defence reinforcement since the Cold War, as the region grapples with terrorism and an increasingly assertive Russia.

NATO condemned the announcement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said on Tuesday that the country is planning to boost its nuclear arsenal by forty new intercontinental ballistic missiles.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia, saying its move amounted to ""nuclear sabre- rattling".

President Vladimir Putin said June 16 that Russia would boost its nuclear arsenal by more than 40 intercontinental missiles this year, a move branded "sabre-rattling" by NATO and "a step backwards" by Washington.

NATO should invite Macedonia and Montenegro to join when it holds its next summit in Poland in July of next year, Polish Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak has said.

"It would be excellent news if the invitations could be sent from (the NATO summit in) Warsaw to Macedonia and Montenegro," Reuters quoted Siemoniak as saying at a conference in Wroclaw, Poland on Friday.

The loss of all lives in 1999 was a tragedy, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday during a visit to the Montenegrin capital Podgorica.

"I deeply regret everything that happened. I want to express my condolences to the families and all those who lost loved ones in 1999," Stoltenberg told a press conference after meeting Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

NATO chief offers condolences to families of victims

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the loss of all lives during NATO's bombing campaign against the SRJ represented "a tragedy."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says the loss of all lives during NATO's bombing campaign against the SRJ represented "a tragedy."

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, is coming to Podgorica on Wednesday on a two-day visit to discuss Montenegro's aspirations to become a full member of the Atlantic Alliance by the end of 2015.

Russia's recent behaviour is more aggressive but does not pose an immediate threat to NATO, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said on June 4.