NATO ministers boost support for Ukraine

BRUSSELS: NATO foreign ministers announced new support for Ukraines military and slammed Moscow for backing rebel forces Tuesday in a meeting that also focused on the alliances upcoming move to a training mission in Afghanistan. We strongly condemn Russias continued and deliberate destabilization of eastern Ukraine in breach of international law, said a statement from the NATO ministers and Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who attended by videoconference. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said they agreed to activate four trust funds which will help pay to upgrade Ukraines logistics, cyber warfare, command and control and medical services, and added a fifth to support wounded Ukrainian soldiers. Despite Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels saying Tuesday that they had agreed a new truce in the eastern rebel stronghold of Lugansk and were discussing a similar truce in Donetsk province, the ministers also pushed Moscow to honor a wider peace deal agreed in September. Russia must use its influence over the separatists to ensure they stop their attacks and abide by the cease-fire, the statement said, referring to the earlier deal. A NATO official said implementation is key to any new cease-fire. EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini, attending the meeting, said that if confirmed, the new truce accords would obviously be very good news. The NATO ministers were meanwhile also discussing plans to set up an interim quick reaction force to help the Cold War-era alliance to deal with new challenges of hybrid warfare and political upheaval, such as Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. At a September summit NATO leaders agreed to launch a spearhead force of around 4,000 troops by 2016 but on Tuesday they were discussing plans for an even faster, smaller force to be operational by early 2015. Norways Stoltenberg, who took over from Denmarks Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO chief on October 1, said the ministers aimed to agree on how to drive our alliance forward in a changing world, ready to deal with any challenges from the east or from the south. They also reviewed NATO efforts to reassure eastern members such as the ex-Soviet Baltic states and former Warsaw Pact member Poland by rotating aircraft, ships and troops through the region. The question of NATO membership for Ukraine was strictly off limits, diplomatic sources said. Stoltenberg stressed that it was up to individual countries to decide on their own if they wanted to join the alliance and that he would respect any decision taken. Kievs new government wants to restart the membership process interrupted by ousted leader Viktor Yanukovych, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned against such a move. As NATO prepares to end combat operations in Afghanistan its longest ever mission ministers were to close their meeting Tuesday in the presence of new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and chief executive Abdullah Abdullah. NATO has agreed with Kabul on a training and advisory force of some 12,500 troops, mostly US, which will remain for several years. US Secretary of State John Kerry chairs a meeting of the 60-strong US-led coalition against IS at NATO headquarters on Wednesday, although NATO is not involved in the coaltion.

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NATO ministers boost support for Ukraine