As Russia's neighbors nervously watch the invasion of Ukraine, they are moving to bolster their own defenses and come to new agreements outside the NATO structure as they try to act as quickly as possible.
Eastern and Northern European countries, which share borders with Russia, have previously been at war with Russia or fought for independence from the Soviet Union, and have warned they must be prepared for any attacks.
Some countries with close proximity to Russia say they need to beef up their defense systems quickly, something that would require action outside of NATO's vast structures.
The defense minister of Latvia, a NATO member and Russian neighbor, told Insider in July that he wants to bring back compulsory military service in case of a Russian attack.
Artis Pabriks said that the first challenge is coming from a very quick attack from Russia.
How many forces Russia can gather at our borders within a day or two has been calculated by us. NATO will need a certain amount of time to reflect on that, so we need to be prepared to defend our territory.
A new defense pact between Norway and Sweden is one of the policies and agreements introduced by countries near Russia.
"We're not only sitting here and waiting for what NATO will do, but we're also happy with the steps NATO is taking, but we need to know what NATO is going to do," said the defense minister of Estonia.
He said that he wants to double the size of the country's volunteer defense force after investing around $800 million in defense this year. Pevkur hopes that new defense agreements will help deter Russia.
He said thatEstonia needed to be prepared to fight.
The deals being done are not usually done through NATO's structures, but they are significant as the countries seek to boost their defenses.
Edward R. Arnold, a research fellow for European security at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Insider that countries are not snubbing NATO, but are making agreements in line with what the region needs
Support for NATO seems to have grown.
Once an agreement is reached with Turkey about some of the alliance's conditions, Sweden and Finns will be accepted.
They want more support from the alliance. Some people have been asking for more NATO troops for months. The numbers are increasing but not as fast as the nations would like.
It can be difficult to get things done with NATO's size.
In NATO, we have 30 countries, and in the European Union, there are 27. It can take time.
"To talk with someone bilaterally is always easier than talking with 30 other people," Pevkur stated.
He said that you have to be flexible in order to get the results you want. You will do it on bilateral level if the need is there. You do this when there is a need for trilateral or multilateral. You do on the NATO level when the need is there.
"Bilateral agreements are typically faster than NATO, but I don't think it's slow," said Arnold, of RUSI.
Smaller agreements are important for some countries.
"We must be ready ourselves to defend every beach and every part of our territory," Pabriks said.
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