NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the ministers reviewed the plans - the first since the end of the Cold War and given impetus by Russia's military operation in Ukraine - at a two-day meeting in Brussels and were moving closer to agreeing on them.
But one diplomat said Turkey had blocked approval over the wording of geographical locations, including with regard to Cyprus. There was still an opportunity to find a solution before the NATO summit in mid-July in Vilnius, the diplomat added.
Turkey's diplomatic mission to NATO said it would be wrong to comment on a secret NATO document, adding only that "the usual process of consultations and evaluation among allies is continuing".
The so-called regional plans comprise thousands of pages of secret military plans that will detail how the alliance would respond to a possible Russian attack.
The drawing up of the documents signifies a fundamental shift. NATO had seen no need for large-scale defense plans for decades as it took part in smaller operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
NATO will also give nations guidance on how to upgrade their forces and logistics.
"While regional plans were not formally endorsed today, we anticipate these plans will be part of a series of deliverables for the Vilnius Summit in July," a senior US official told Reuters.
MP/PR
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