May 28 (Reuters) - A combined German-Dutch army corps will take command of NATO land forces in Estonia and Latvia later this year to strengthen the alliance's eastern flank against a potential Russian attack, the countries said on Thursday.
The so-called 1 German-Netherlands Corps (1GNC), based in the German city of Muenster, will become a tactical headquarters for NATO in the region by mid-2026, with the alliance set to formalise the new structure this summer.
At present, NATO forces in all three Baltic nations as well as northern Poland come under the command of a single multinational headquarters in the Polish city of Szczecin.
A military official told Reuters this week that the change would allow NATO to bring in "mass at speed", addressing the region's limited strategic depth and vulnerability.
"The deployment of an additional tactical headquarters in the region strengthens coherence within NATO and contributes to Russia's deterrence," the German and Dutch ministries of defence said in a joint statement on Thursday.
Dutch Defence Minister Dilan Yeşilgoz said 1GNC had "thoroughly prepared" for its new role, citing a visit to the corps in March.
The move follows agreements reached at the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague and builds on the NATO Force Model introduced at the Vilnius summit in 2023, which aimed at deploying more forces within shorter response times.
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
