The Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, says the alliance is not seeking a confrontation with Russia and does not want another cold war.

According to him, the planned deployment of 4,000 extra troops to Eastern Europe aims to prevent, not provoke conflict.

Mr Stoltenberg added that despite current tensions, the military alliance does not see Russia as a threat.

Currently, relations between the west and Russia are at their lowest point since the cold war.

The U.S. and European Union imposed sanctions on Russia following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014.

The war in Syria has also been a flash point for tensions, with key western powers accusing Russia of war crimes in its bombardment of opposition-held areas in support of the Syrian government.