(L/R): U.S. President Joe Biden (L) and Germany s Chancellor Olaf Scholz speak next to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canada s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before a G7 leaders family photograph during a NATO summit at the alliance s headquarters in Brussels on March 24, 2022. AFP
Stoltenberg says that NATO leaders agreed at their summit Thursday to send equipment to Ukraine to help protect it against a chemical weapons attack.
``This could include detection equipment, protection, and medical support, as well as training for decontamination and crisis management,'' he told reporters after meeting in Brussels.
But Stoltenberg says the 30 NATO allies are boosting their own ``preparedness and readiness.''
The leaders agreed Thursday to deploy four new battlegroups, which usually number from 1,000-1,500 troops, to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Four other battlegroups are stationed in the Baltic States and Poland.
NATO nations are concerned that Russia's attempt to falsely accuse them of working on chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine is part of a ruse by Moscow to create a pretext for using such arms itself.
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