NATO alliance approves rapid reaction force (Source AP) The initial unit, to be up and running in early 2015, will be supplanted the following year by a permanent force, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. Foreign ministers from the 28 NATO member countries also approved maintaining measures through 2015 initiated to reassure NATO nations nearest Russia, Stoltenberg said. Such measures include stepped-up air patrols over the Baltic Sea and the continuous rotation of NATO military units in and out of countries like Poland and the Baltic republics. A senior NATO official said the brigade-sized land-based component of the force, about 3,000-4,000 troops contributed by Germany, Norway and the Netherlands, is expected to be operational in early 2015. The ministers’ one-day meeting in Brussels was NATO’s most important gathering since a September summit in Wales. The foreign ministers also condemned what they called Russia’s “continued and deliberate destabilization” in Ukraine, and announced new non-lethal assistance for Ukraine’s military.. The ministers said in a joint statement that Russia’s actions “undermine the security of Ukraine and have serious implications for the stability and security of the entire Euro-Atlantic area.”