Good morning Playbookers on Rookumonovalin. It's Thursday. Today's show. A preview of President

Biden's Big Day with NATO. It's your Politico Playbook Daily briefing.

The big news of the morning NATO confab, announced Wednesday by NATO Secretary General

Jens Stoltenberg, is that one, NATO is doubling its military footprint in Bulgaria, Hungary,

Romania, and Slovakia to counter the threat from Russia.

Two, Biden and NATO leaders will increase pressure on China to condemn the Russian invasion.

And three, NATO will take additional steps to aid Ukraine with, quote,

cybersecurity assistance and equipment to help Ukraine protect against chemical, biological,

radiological, and nuclear threats.

It's the third issue that has everyone's attention, as WMDs are now a serious focus at the summit.

Stoltenberg repeatedly called on Russia to stop its, quote,

nuclear saber rattling and warned that, quote, the spread of chemical or biological agents

used in Ukraine may have dire consequences also for the population living in NATO-allied countries

in Europe. Back home, the Washington Post, New York Times, and Politico have sobering pieces

about the risks of a nuclear conflict. John Hudson from the Washington Post reports that, quote, repeated attempts by the U.S.'s

top defense and military leaders to speak with their Russian counterparts have been rejected by

Moscow for the last month, leaving the world's two largest nuclear powers in the dark about

explanations for military movements and raising fears of a major

miscalculation or battlefield accident.

Behind the scenes, the Biden administration has, quote, assembled a team of national security

officials to sketch out scenarios of how the U.S. and its allies should respond if Putin

unleashes his stockpals of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

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