Category Archives: NATO

Published January 30, 2015

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. Ambassadors met on Monday for an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission and released a statement condemning the sharp escalation of violence along the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)(The Associated Press)

El secretario general de la OTAN Jens Stoltenberg da una conferencia de prensa en la sede de la alianza militar en Bruselas el lunes 26 de enero de 2015. (Foto AP/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)(The Associated Press)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. Ambassadors met on Monday for an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission and released a statement condemning the sharp escalation of violence along the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)(The Associated Press)

BRUSSELS NATO is deploying small units in six eastern European nations to help coordinate a spearhead force set up in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday the units in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania will be the first of their kind there.

Defense ministers from the 28-nation military alliance will discuss the full force, which can react quickly to any hotspots in Europe, when they meet on Feb. 5.

Stoltenberg said countries responsible for providing the several thousand troops should be known next week. Norway, Germany and the Netherlands are ready to contribute.

The forward units will comprise a few dozen troops only. They will plan and organize military exercises, and provide command and control for any reinforcements the force might require.

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NATO to deploy units to Baltics, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria ...

Despite Russias very negative reaction towards planned joint Georgia-NATO training center, the alliance is firm in resolve to go ahead with this plan and have the facility in Georgia before the end of this year, NATO Deputy Secretary General, Alexander Vershbow, said in Tbilisi.

Setting up of a joint training and evaluation center in Georgia is part of that substantial package, offered to Georgia by NATO at its summit in Wales in September.

During his two-day visit to Georgia, the NATO deputy secretary general also toured the Vaziani training range outside Tbilisi on January 30, which is one of the potential locations for the planned joint training center. Vershbow said that Vaziani is one of the strong candidates, but there are some other options as well. An assessment team from NATO is expected to visit Georgia tentatively in February that will look into different possibilities in order to pick the location for the planned training and evaluation center, he said.

Speaking to an audience at the Tbilisi-based think-tank, Atlantic Council of Georgia, Vershbow said that NATO and Georgia have yet to flesh out the goals and purposes of the center.

He said that it has to be determined whether the focus will be primarily on command post exercises or there will also be capacities for field exercises with participation of troops from multiple countries. The hope is that it will be the latter, Vershbow said.

He also said that the centre could host live and simulated trainings and certification for allied and partner military units, in particular for units committed to the NATO Response Force, and it could also host exercises and training in support of NATOs Connected Forces initiative.

Vershbow said that the training and evaluation center will be the most visible element of a NATO presence in Georgia and also is the most visible element of the substantial package of cooperation agreed at the Wales summit.

He also said that the substantial package of cooperation contains all the tools necessary for Georgia to meet its membership aspirations.

Its implementation, Vershbow said, requires important political and financial commitments from both NATO and Georgia.

But we have already made good progress in finding the necessary resources, he said, adding that the work is expected to be further advanced when NATO and Georgian defense ministers meet in the NATO-Georgia Commission in Brussels on February 5.

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NATO Deputy Secretary General on Planned Training Center in Georgia

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NATO Secretary General with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, 29 JAN 2015
In talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on 29 January 2015, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO would continue its strong political and practical support for Ukraine....

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NATO Secretary General with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, 29 JAN 2015 - Video

French delegates sitting at a table in a conference room at Nato Conference

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French delegates sitting at a table in a conference room at Nato Conference - Video

BRUSSELS NATO defense ministers are expected to agree next week to set up command units, staffed with national and NATO soldiers, in six Eastern European allies as part of a new strategy in response to the Ukraine crisis, NATO's chief said on Friday.

Creating the units in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the three Baltic countries is one of the most concrete steps NATO has taken to show that the alliance will protect its eastern allies, some of which are nervous about Russian intentions following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg denied that the creation of the units could be considered provocative by Russia. "It is completely within all our international obligations and what we are doing is defensive and it is proportionate," he told Reuters in an interview.

The posting of small numbers of NATO soldiers at existing bases in eastern European countries falls short of requests by Poland to have a large NATO base on its soil but creates a symbolic NATO presence and would help the alliance to reinforce the countries rapidly in a crisis.

A NATO diplomat said the units were expected to consist of 40-50 people, split roughly equally between soldiers from the host nation and those from other NATO allies. The units will organize exercises and plan for NATO reinforcement if required.

First published January 30 2015, 9:13 AM

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NATO Will Set Up Commands in Nervous Eastern Europe

Saturday, 31 January 2015 00:04

BRUSSELS: NATO head Jens Stoltenberg urged the alliance Friday to brace for further challenges after a "black year" of Russian intervention in Ukraine and terror attacks on Europe's streets.

Unveiling NATO's 2014 annual report, Stoltenberg said a new rapid reaction force would help cope with a changing security environment but urged the 28 member states to keep their commitments to boost defence spending.

"2014 was not a good year for European security. In fact it was a black year," said Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian prime minister who took over as NATO Secretary General in October.

"Our security environment has fundamentally changed," he said.

He highlighted Russia's role in Ukraine as a key problem, saying it was defying international norms, destabilising the country and intimidating its neighbours.

Russia's increased defence capabilities including the ability to launch snap military exercises on a huge scale were "part of the reason why we have decided to change our defence posture", he said.

Stoltenberg also warned of the threat from the Islamic State and other extremist groups on NATO's borders, especially after the Paris attacks earlier this month in which homegrown jihadists killed 17 people.

"To the south, violent extremism is at our borders. Spreading turmoil across North Africa and the Middle East and fuelling terrorism on our own streets," he said.

The NATO chief said defence ministers meeting next week would finalise the list of countries taking part in a so-called "spearhead" quick reaction force which the alliance's leaders agreed at a summit in September.

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NATO chief warns of challenges after 'black year'

By Dow Jones Business News, January 30, 2015, 07:15:00 AM EDT

BRUSSELS--NATO will establish command centers in six of its eastern countries in coming months, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday, part of a beefed-up response to Russian aggressiveness.

The outposts will form a chain of potential command centers for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's already announced new rapid-response force of roughly 5,000 troops, whose details are to be finalized at a meeting next week of NATO defense ministers.

The centers also will provide a link between NATO and the armed forces of the six countries where they will be located--Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Mr. Stoltenberg announced the new centers at a news conference in Brussels, where he also urged NATO allies to spend more on defense to counter Russia's military budget. Mr. Stoltenberg also said he would meet with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in the sidelines of a security conference in Munich in two weeks.

"Especially when times are difficult, as they are now, it is important to meet and discuss also difficult issues," Mr. Stoltenberg said.

The command centers are intended partly as a warning to Russia and a reassurance to NATO allies who have become increasingly jittery following Moscow's aggressive actions in Ukraine and elsewhere.

The creation of the spearhead rapid-response force, designed to mobilize within two days in case of a belligerent move by an adversary, is the highest-profile move by NATO to bolster its defenses in the aftermath of Russia's takeover of Crimea and its incursions into eastern Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

"This will be the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War," Mr. Stoltenberg said.

Each command center will likely be staffed by about 50 military personnel from various NATO countries. The outposts are in a sense a compromise between NATO's eastern countries, some of whom want full-scale NATO bases on their territory, and other members wary of building expensive new installations that could provoke Moscow.

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NATO to Set Up Command Centers on Eastern Flank

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