In an attempt to provide a show of force on its borders as Russia intensifies its actions in Syria, NATO is ready to send troops to Turkey, Sky News reported.
The UK is also sending a “long-term” deployment of British troops to the Baltic as part of the Baltic Air Policing detachment that has been called into action a number of times recently.
The security bloc’s defence ministers will meet in Brussels today with Russia’s intervention in Syria set to top the agenda.
The discussions come after Moscow confirmed it had fired rockets at Islamic State targets in Syria from warships stationed in the Caspian Sea.
President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that four warships fired 26 cruise missiles at militants from the inland sea – a distance of 900 miles.
Turkey has also complained that Russian aircraft have strayed into its airspace, with NATO dismissing Moscow’s claims the incursions were accidental.
As he arrived for the meeting, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the number of UK troops being sent to the Baltic would be “small” but was intended to reassure former Soviet bloc members of the alliance.
He said: “This is further reassurance for our allies on the eastern flank of NATO – for the Baltic states and for Poland.

“That is part of our more persistent presence on the eastern side of NATO to respond to any further Russian provocation and aggression.
When asked about Russia’s action in Syria, he told Sky News: “Russia is making a very serious situation more dangerous. We’ll be meeting today to see what we can do to de-escalate this crisis, particularly in terms of air safety.
“We’ll be calling on Russia specifically to stop propping up the Assad regime and to use their influence constructively to stop Assad bombing his own civilians and themselves to avoid the use of unguided munitions in areas that are
not being controlled by ISIL and we’ll be offering more support to Syria’s neighbours, particularly Turkey.”
A US-led coalition, including France and Australia, has been carrying out air strikes against IS militants in Syria since last year, but NATO is not directly involved.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russia carried out further airstrikes in Syria early on Thursday, backed by ground forces.
It has emerged that the military plan to involve Russia in Syria’s war was formed in July after a visit to Moscow by an Iranian general.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan told Russia on Thursday that it could get its supplies of gas and expertise to build its first nuclear power plant from elsewhere if it needed to.