Category Archives: NATO

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that the country needed to further develop its armed forces in the face of "increased NATO activity" on its borders.

"The difficult military and political situation in the world and the increased activity of NATO countries near the Russian borders require further quality development of the armed forces," Shoigu told officials in televised remarks.

Among the Russian armed forces' priorities are "increasing their effectiveness, maintaining the combat readiness of nuclear forces and strengthening the potential of non-nuclear deterrent forces," the defense minister added.

Western countries have this month raised the alarm over reported Russian military activity near Ukraine, with the U.S. saying it has "real concerns" over a new troop build-up on the border.

Moscow has dismissed mounting Western claims that Russia may be preparing to invade Ukraine and says any military buildup is a response to growing NATO activity near its borders.

On Tuesday, Shoigu accused Washington of sending its bombers to practice a nuclear strike on Russia from the east and the west during its "Global Thunder" military exercises.

Renewed Western fears about Russia's plans in eastern Ukraine have come amid a clash over an unexpected migrant crisis on the border with Kremlin-aligned Belarus and EU member Poland.

Link:
Russia to Boost Military in Face of 'Increased NATO Activity' - The Moscow Times

Today (22 November 2021), a group of around twenty Afghan citizens who worked for NATO has arrived for resettlement in the Netherlands on a flight sponsored by the Dutch authorities. The group left from a temporary facility in Poland, where they have been hosted by the Polish authorities, since their evacuation from Kabul in August, with logistical support from the Polish armed forces and NATO personnel.

Thanks to Allies joint efforts, around 2,000 Afghans who worked with NATO, and their families, were evacuated from Kabul in August, as part of the largest evacuation mission in NATO's history. NATO worked around the clock to coordinate evacuations and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo and his staff played a key role to this effect. Over the course of two weeks, more than 120,000 people were flown out, on hundreds of Allied flights. Troops from the US, UK, Turkey, and Norway played a key role in securing the airport and operating a field hospital, while around 800 NATO staff maintained key operations such as fuelling and communications. NATO Allies and partners continue to work together to help evacuated Afghans start a new life. Over the last weeks, 80 former Afghan employees and their families resettled in Norway, more than 100 in the United Kingdom, over 100 in Canada, around 100 in Germany, 20 in Iceland, and several hundred more in other Allied countries.

See the original post:
More Afghans who worked with NATO are settling in Allied countries - NATO HQ

NATOs Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) eAcademy has recently launched its first-ever podcast series called DEEP Dive.

In each episode, the shows host, Dr. Sajjan Gohel, Chairman of DEEPs Counter-Terrorism Advisory Group and academic project lead for NATOs first ever Counter-Terrorism Reference Curriculum, interviews practitioners and experts in the fields of counter-terrorism, geopolitical current events, and international security and defence. Guests include individuals from a range of different spheres of experience, including journalists, activists, academics, and policymakers. The aim is to offer comprehensive perspectives and insights into the most urgent topics facing our world at present. All episodes also have full transcripts that can act as primary resource tool for Professional Military Education.

Reflecting on the goal of the podcast series, Dr. Gohel commented Using the iceberg analogy, there are some aspects of international security that are visible, above the water, but there is a larger dynamic hidden beneath the surface. Therefore, it's only when we delve deeper, by having a dialogue with people who have a wealth of ground experience and knowledge that we can actually get a full grasp of connecting events unfolding around the world.

DEEP Dive also symbolises NATOs enduring principles of cross-cutting collaboration and cooperation with a number of actors and entities dealing with counter-terrorism. According to the DEEP Coordinator Mariusz Solis, The DEEP Dive format can provide unique insight on the international security and defence environment, and in so doing enhance our collective understanding of key global challenges.

The podcast is available across major streaming platforms like Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. Episode 1 interviewed critically acclaimed journalist Tim Marshall, who is the author of numerous books including the bestselling Prisoners of Geography and The Power of Geography. Tim and Sajjan talk about what lies ahead for the Indo-Pacific region, the increasing significance of maritime security and the Quad alliance, and the future of Afghanistan under the Taliban. Episode 2s guest is Neil Basu, the Assistant Commissioner for the British Metropolitan Police, whohas served as the head of Specialist Operations for the United Kingdoms law enforcement agencies. Neil and Sajjan look at how policing has evolved in terms of operations and recruitment, as well as the prevalent terrorist threats facing the United Kingdom, the pandemics impact on counter-terrorism, and potential, future counter-terrorism outlook in and around Afghanistan.

DEEP Dive is available at: https://deepportal.hq.nato.int/eacademy/deep-dive-podcasts/

View original post here:
Podcast series launched on NATO's role in the fight against terrorism - NATO HQ

For the second time in a year, Russia is mounting a major military buildup near its border with Ukraine. The last time, in March and April, did not result in an invasion, but Russian leader Vladimir Putin arguably got what he wanted: the worlds attention. In June, U.S. President Joe Biden held a summit with Putin in Geneva that was reminiscent of the Cold War days when Russia was a superpower like the United States.

More From Our Experts

Putin, who has called the collapse of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the [twentieth] century, is eager to restore the level of influence his country has enjoyed, and he has the mineral wealth and military capabilities to achieve his objective. Once again, his military buildup has riveted the world. Headlines proclaim concerns about a Russian invasion of Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is warning Russia against further aggression.

More on:

Ukraine

Russia

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Military Operations

Geopolitics of Energy

It seems doubtful that Russia will try to invade and occupy all of Ukraine. Kyiv has an increasingly capable military, and, even if it is defeated, Russia does not want to find itself in another costly guerrilla war like the one in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Putin could more readily expand Russias zone of control in eastern Ukraine, perhaps linking the separatist region of Donbas with Crimea, which was occupied by Russian forces in 2014.

As noted by Eugene Rumer and Andrew S. Weiss of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Ukraine is integral to Putins hopes of reviving the old empire and creating strategic depth against invasion from the West. Putin published an ominous treatise in July describing Ukraine as an inalienable part of Russia, laying the justification for invading it if he so desires.

How should the United States and its allies respond to the latest threat of aggression against Ukraine? The most powerful deterrent in the Wests arsenal is NATO membership. The only countries that Putin has invadedGeorgia and Ukraineare not NATO members. He has been careful to keep his aggression against NATO members (e.g., disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, and naval and air operations near members borders) below the threshold of NATOs collective defense provision, known as Article V.

More From Our Experts

The World This Week

A weekly digest of the latestfrom CFR on the biggest foreign policy stories of the week, featuring briefs, opinions, and explainers. Every Friday.

Ukraines pro-West president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has been pressing Washington for a timeline for Ukrainian accession to NATO, but he has so far been rebuffed. NATO has repeatedly proclaimed that no outside power (read Russia) will have a veto over NATO expansion, but a de facto Russian veto exists. Putins invasions of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 made those countries too hot to handle for NATO: Most members, including the United States, do not want to expand the alliance to a country that is already locked in hostilities with Russia because they could be drawn into the fight.

But there is a good deal that the United States and its allies can do to buttress Ukraine against Russian aggression even without offering it an Article V guarantee. Biden has been off to a good start in this regard by hosting Zelensky at the White House and making clear that, as he put it, The United States remains firmly committed to Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression.

More on:

Ukraine

Russia

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

Military Operations

Geopolitics of Energy

That is a welcome contrast from the Donald Trump administration, when the president held up military aid to Ukraine to try to force Zelensky to make unwarranted accusations of corruption against then candidate Biden. The United States has resumed military aid to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank missilesfirst delivered by the Trump administrationthat would be of great utility in fighting a Russian armored invasion. Since 2014, the United States has provided Ukraine with more than $2.5 billion in military assistance. The latest commitment, $60 million, was announced prior to Zelenskys White House visit.

However, Biden needs to do more to increase the economic cost to Russia of its aggression. One of the biggest points of leverage is the nearly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany underneath the Baltic Sea. It will bypass existing pipelines that run through Ukraine, depriving it of around one billion euros per year in transit payments. Nord Stream 2 will increase Europes dependence on Russian gas and leave Ukraine vulnerable to politically motivated Russian gas shutoffs.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration essentially threw in the towel on Nord Stream 2, lifting sanctions on the company building the pipeline and describing its construction as a fait accompli. But now, a German energy regulator has refused to certify the pipeline, raising fresh questions about its future. The Biden administration should reimpose sanctions related to the pipeline, as urged by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, while offering to provide Europe with more U.S. natural gas and help in its transition to renewable energy.

John McCain, the late U.S. senator, once described Russia as a gas station masquerading as a country. The most effective way to hurt Putinand protect Ukrainecould be at the pump.

Read this article:
How to Energize NATO's Response to Russia's Threats Against Ukraine - Council on Foreign Relations

It was interesting to read that NATO recently set out its Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy. Given the significant progress in AI in recent years, it might be considered to be an overdue development, but none the less sets out useful principles for the development of AI for defence and security applications. Importantly, the NATO strategy recognises that, "due to its cross-cutting nature, AI will pose a broad set of international security challenges, affecting both traditional military capabilities and the realm of hybrid threats, and will likewise provide new opportunities to respond to them". Also of interest is the intent to have responsibility at the core of its outreach efforts.

I was also interested to see that the strategy document stresses the need for cooperation and suggests that NATOs experience not only in operations, but also in trials, exercises, and experimentation provide several avenues in which Allies and NATO can test principles against intended use cases.

This could result in opportunities for both the traditional defence industry and also newcomers with expertise in AI to access this potentially significant market. Indeed, this is explicitly set out in the strategy document, which notes that "this includes engagement with start-ups, innovative small and medium enterprises, and academic researchers that either have not considered working on defence and security solutions, or simply find the adoption pathways too slow or restrictive for their business models".

However, as with any potential collaboration between parties, it can be beneficial to have your intellectual property (IP) in order before entering the agreement, to ensure that any background IP you may have is recognised. This even extends to the algorithms underpinning AI innovations where they are applied to a technical application or are adapted to a specific technical implementation. When properly applied, IP can be the best defence of your AI innovation!

Due to its cross-cutting nature, AI will pose a broad set of international security challenges, affecting both traditional military capabilities and the realm of hybrid threats, and will likewise provide new opportunities to respond to them.

https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2021/10/25/an-artificial-intelligence-strategy-for-nato/index.html

Read more:
NATO Sets the Strategy on AI - Lexology

MINSK, November 23. /TASS/. The intensity of NATOs military build-up and Ukraines aggressive behavior are creating a belt of unfriendly states around Belarus, Chief of the Belarusian General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister Major-General Viktor Gulevich said in a statement on Tuesday.

"What is alarming is that in addition to groups of forces being set up on Polish territory, our Baltic neighbors - Lithuania and Latvia - are building up their military contingents," Gulevich said.

"Moreover, considering Ukraines aggressive behavior towards Belarus, we are actually witnessing a belt of unfriendly states being created around our country, following the well-known US Anaconda coils concept," the general said.

Gulevich also said that Belarus had registered a growing number of military field camps, which are deployed by neighboring NATO member states.

"While last week our intelligence bodies uncovered 12 field camps designed to accommodate military personnel and hardware, today we have information about the deployment of 14 such camps," he said. "They can house dozens of thousands of military personnel."

Continued here:
Kievs behavior, NATOs activities creating belt of unfriendly countries around Belarus - TASS

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. NATO is ignoring Moscows warnings and continues to fan tension at the Russian borders, with the joint US-Estonian drills being another example of such actions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

"Russia warns NATO against fanning tension near the Russian borders. NATO keeps silent and continues," she wrote on her Telegram channel. She drew attention to the statement by the US embassy in Estonia about joint military drills in that country. "The US diplomatic mission said that non-traditional methods of delivery were drilled during the exercise. I dont even want to think about what they mean," she noted.

"In Pentagons military games, this country is nothing but a NATO stronghold at our borders. Such drills have no other goals," she explained. According to Zakharova, the very fact that these drills were held several days after the signing of another military agreement between Tallinn and Washington on mutual provision of troops with fuels "only proves NATOs plans to deliberately create tension near Russia."

She recalled that NATO repeatedly accuses Russia of non-transparency of its actions" and "aggressive behavior," but the US exercises inn Estonia demonstrate the opposite. "And they dare to say these things about Russias military drills on its own territory," she wrote. "And now I want to know if NATO Secretary General [Jens] Stoltenberg thinks such actions to be transparent, predictable and non-aggressive. If he thinks it is normal, then why should he have any claims to Russias domestic maneuvers, which cause so much concern for him?".

Continued here:
NATO ignores Russias warnings and continues to fan tension at its borders diplomat - TASS

The UK, US and Nato have offered reassurances that Russia will not get hold of the downed F-35B plane in the Mediterranean, insisting well get it first.

The allies vowed to retrieve the 100 million ($133.7 million) warplane from the seabed after Britain said the Russians had been playing close attention to HMS Queen Elizabeth, which carried the jet before it went down.

Shortly after take-off last Wednesday, the plane ditched into the sea. The RAF pilot managed to safely eject.

"We'll get it first, I promise you," said Brig Gen Simon Doran, the top-ranking US officer on board the UKs flagship aircraft carrier.

F-35Bs, fifth-generation warplanes equipped to carry out a range of different missions, differ from other F-35s and are designed for short take-off and vertical landing.

Fitted with radars, sensors and other classified technology, the jets are the most secret and complex aircraft in the UK arsenal. They also carry the highest price tag.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is returning from its maiden voyage to the Far East and is leading a nine-vessel allied strike group. It is currently near Sicily.

Nato's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen Tim Radford, told journalists on board the vessel he had no worries about the possibility of a failed retrieval operation.

An F-35B plane on board 'HMS Queen Elizabeth' in Portsmouth, England. Getty Images

"We're not concerned at all about recovering it," he said. We're not worried because we are working through the issue at the moment.

There was obviously a concern when the plane went down. The pilot is safe, which is the most important thing.

Gen Radford and other officials declined to give further details about the operation to salvage the jet.

Commodore Steve Moorhouse, commander of the carrier strike group, referred to the loss of the jet as a hugely unfortunate incident and a setback.

But he insisted the reliability of the aircraft or confidence in it and the project is undiminished after the loss.

The public pledge to find the jet came amid fears in Nato that Russia may try to recover the aircraft and glean the cutting-edge technology on board.

Last week Britains Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia had been closely watching the movements of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

"It is not a secret the Russians have been very interested in the carrier group, both on the way out from the United Kingdom as she's sailed and her group towards the Pacific and now she is back in the Mediterranean," Mr Wallace told Sky News.

"Of course the Russians are playing close attention it is what I'd expect.

So far, the UK has accepted delivery of 21 American-made F-35Bs.

The majority of the planes are for its two modern aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

Updated: November 23rd 2021, 10:30 AM

See the rest here:
UK, US and Nato vow to find missing F-35 jet before Russia - The National

On 16 November 2021, the Director General of the NATO International Military Staff (IMS), Lieutenant General Hans-Werner Wiermann welcomed the Deputy Director General of the European Union Military Staff (EUMS), Lieutenant General Giovanni Manione and his staff to NATO HQ for the second IMS-EUMS bi-annual meeting.

Opening the conference, Lieutenant General Hans-Werner Wierman welcomed participants back to NATO HQ for the first IMS-EUMS in-person meeting since the start of the pandemic and highlighted the ongoing work and determination demonstrated by respective staffs, throughout the health crisis, as an indication of the importance placed on this relationship by both institutions. For his part, Lieutenant General Giovanni Manione opened the meeting on behalf of Vice Admiral Herv Blejean, the Director General of the European Union Military Staff and thanked Lieutenant General Wiermann for the warm welcome. Both Generals acknowledged the work done by the EUMS and the IMS in maintaining, fostering and developing the collaborative staff-to-staff relationship that has grown between both organisations.

Todays meeting provided a forum for both Directors General and their respective staffs to report on the progress of the tasks in the joint work plan agreed by the EUMS IMS as well as exchange views and discuss the ongoing cooperation between NATO and the EU. One of the key issues discussed was the development of the two strategic reflections, for the EU its Strategic Compass and for NATO, the renewal of its Strategic Concept. Each organisation briefed on the reflection process and the ongoing development of their own strategies, which led to a discussion on the importance of complementarity and cohesion between both documents.

The agenda also included a briefing by the EEAS Security and Defence Policy Branch on monitoring and coordinating the implementation of the NATO-EU Joint Declarations. In the current strategic environment, facing new challenges and threats, cooperation between the EU and NATO remains essential. With 21 common members, the security of the EU and NATO is clearly inter-connected and working together on key issues only strengthens their common response.

This was followed by a briefing from the Supreme Allied Command Transformation on the NATOs Space activities. NATO needs good situational awareness, reliable access to space services and it must keep its technological edge. NATO has declared space an operational domain alongside air, land, sea and cyber and also established a NATO Space Centre in Germany.

This bilateral meeting is a key enabler in strengthening the already positive working relationship between the EUMS and the IMS. Todays event is the first IMS-EUMS in-person meeting held since the start of the COVID 19 Pandemic and followed strict health measures to protect all participants. The next meeting is scheduled in May 2022.

View post:
The NATO International Military Staff hosts the EU Military Staff for second edition of joint meeting - NATO HQ

On 10 November, US secretary of state Antony Blinken publicly warned Russia not to make a serious mistake by escalating its war against Ukraine. The warning came after Russian troops were reported to have massed on the border with Ukraine. Russian deployments are ongoing, and open-source reporting alone can only capture a fraction of the actual military moves. This makes it difficult to establish what exactly is happening. But there appear to be several moves taking place at once, and they are not necessarily related. Some seem to concern Ukraine alone, while others may pose a danger to the European Union and NATO at large.

One major issue relates to the movements of the 41st Combined Arms Army (CAA). The 41st CAAs headquarters is in Novosibirsk in Siberia, and it was previously based in the Central Military District. In March this year it moved to Russias Western Military District, which stretches from Finland to most of the way down Russias border with Ukraine. The army remained there and took part in this years Zapad 21, a four-yearly large-scale military exercise that rehearses an attack on NATOs eastern flank. The CAA was deployed first to the Pogonovo training range in the Voronezh region of Russia, next to Ukraine. But by October most of its assets were located in Yelnia in the Smolensk region, next to Belarus. Both of these 41st CAA locations are around 250km from the Ukrainian border, although Yelnia is considerably further west.

That being said, despite being based at Yelnia, military movements appear to be constant, with troops leaving the camp and later arriving again (or different ones, potentially even from other armies, being deployed there). This makes them hard to track. But it would suggest that troops are taking part in military exercises, although there is no publicly available information about their exact nature. A Ukrainian source acquainted with the situation told the author in early November that at least some parts of these exercises are happening in Belarus. This seems likely from a military point of view: if the 41st CAA stays in the Smolensk region which it almost certainly will it would fill a gap between the 6th CAA, which is in the north (headquarters in St Petersburg) and the 20th CAA, which is in the east (Voronezh). Previously this broad location was only covered by the Belarusian Army, which effectively (from within its own country) filled the gap between the 6th CAA to the north and the 20th CAA to the south-east.

If Russia did start a war with NATO in the west, the 41st CAAs task would be to lead the advance from Belarus towards the Suwalki gap. This is the Poland-Lithuania border area that separates Belarus from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. The 41st CAA would likely advance in conjunction with the 11th Army Corps in Kaliningrad; its aim would be to crush the Polish and Lithuanian defences. The 1st Guards Tank Army (based around Moscow), which was previously assigned to these tasks, would now be free as an operational reserve to exploit the advance of the 41st CAA and further push the initial offensive towards the Oder river at the Polish-German border.

Alternatively, if a major war were to be sparked in the Black Sea region rather than in Russias west, the task of the 41st CAA would be to push down on Ukraine from the north, predominantly through Belarus. It would seek to quickly cut Kyiv off from any reinforcements and would take up positions on the west bank of the Dnieper river, which passes through the capital and bisects Ukraine. Because the 41st CAA needs to be ready to serve two operative directions, its deployment and preparatory schemes are more complex than that of other armies which would explain the need for the current exercises.

Importantly, another set of military build-ups accelerated at the beginning of November. These are clearly targeting Ukraine specifically. The number of military assets in Crimea has increased; parts of the 1st Guards Tank Army have been deployed to Maslovka close to the border with the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in the countrys north-east; and a further concentration of military vehicles appears to have assembled around Rostov (just east of Ukraine). This last move is presumably to enable Russia to infiltrate Ukraines Donbas region, an intention strongly suggested by the high numbers of military transports arriving at the airport in Rostov-on-Don.

The mobilisation of the National Guards Units is a sign the Kremlin is at least considering incursions into Ukraine.

Alongside these build-ups, Russia has mobilised its paramilitary security forces, the National Guards Units, and also sent them to Rostov. Following an invasion of Ukraine, it would use these to control conquered territory, suppress dissent, and install puppet administrations. Their mobilisation is a sign that the Kremlin is at least considering the option of further incursions into Ukraine. Compared to the situation in March and April 2021, when it last moved troops close to the Ukrainian border, Russia seems to be making much less effort to ensure the current assembly is visible. This may hint towards a significantly more serious intention than simply a wish to appear threatening.

Hostile Russian rhetoric towards Ukraine has increased over the last year. Reintegrating Ukraine the whole of Ukraine, not Donbas alone into the Russian Empire is a declared aim of the Russian president. The impression of a weak West, underlined by the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, may convince Moscow that now is the time to wrap up its unfinished business with Kyiv. The Kremlin may have been emboldened in this by its interpretation of the American position on Ukraine, particularly since senior US diplomat Victoria Nulands recent visit to Moscow. That trip likely left the impression that Washington would subscribe to Moscows interpretation of the Minsk agreement.

This is a fundamental error on the Russians part, because this is not the US policy. Yet this perception may combine with Moscows longstanding misinterpretation and twisting of the provisions of Minsk. On 01 November, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of provoking further military reactions by leaving the Minsk agreement. He suggested that Russia will intervene if the Ukrainian government presses ahead with its plans to adopt a law on transitional administration. Moscow dislikes the contents of the draft legislation because they do not effectively allow it to retain the republics it set up in eastern Ukraine, instead promising to transition towards new authorities after elections under Ukrainian law. Russia believes that, via the Minsk agreement, it has a say over Ukrainian domestic legislation and, presumably, the right to wage war if that privilege is violated. No such stipulation, of course, was ever agreed, either as part of the Minsk negotiations or any subsequent format. But Europes silence towards Russias revisionism, and towards the countrys ongoing and lasting breach of the very same agreement by continuously deploying occupation forces in Donbas, only encourages Moscow to think that Europe tacitly accepts its revisionism.

And, finally, current events around Belarus tightly connect Ukraines security situation with the rest of Europe. This relates not only to the immediate stand-offs with migrant arrivals at the Belarus-Poland border, but to these major Russian military redeployments whose full nature is not yet clear. Were it to take Ukraine, an enlarged and confident Russia would then turn its sights on influencing the activities of it new nearest neighbours: the EU and its member states.

The United States is already sending warships to the Black Sea as a signal of deterrence. In April 2021, it deployed fighter jets to Poland from nuclear-assigned squadrons of the US Air Forces in Europe. This was successful in its aim: two days later, Valery Gerasimov, Russias chief of the general staff, called off the exercises taking place close to the Ukrainian border. This is the only language Moscow truly understands. Unfortunately, most of Europe is yet to learn to speak it.

The European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. ECFR publications only represent the views of its individual authors.

Link:
Russias military movements: What they could mean for Ukraine, Europe, and NATO - European Council on Foreign Relations