NATO says sets date for 2016 summit in Warsaw

WARSAW (Reuters) - The NATO summit in Warsaw scheduled for 2016 will take place on July 8-9, the U.S.-led alliance said on Friday. "This summit comes at a crucial time for the alliance, as the tectonic plates of Euro-Atlantic security have shifted both in the East and the South," the alliance said in a statement, referring to Russia's actions in Ukraine and the threat presented by the Islamic State. At its last summit in 2014 in Newport, Wales, the alliance approved wide-ranging plans to boost its defences in eastern Europe, aiming to reassure allies nervous about Russia's intervention in Ukraine that NATO will shield them from any attack. Earlier this month, Poland and the Baltic states said they were seeking permanent NATO deployments on their soil to counter increased Russian military activity, and a Polish internal document suggested the matter may be raised at the summit. (Reporting by Adrian Croft and Wiktor Szary; editing by Andrew Roche)