Page 11 - Nato

EU foreign ministers to discuss air defence for Ukraine, Iran sanctions

After a video conference of NATO defence ministers with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday, Stoltenberg said he expected announcements soon

Argentina asks to join Nato as Prez Milei seeks to boost ties with the West

Argentina formally requested on Thursday to join NATO as a global partner, a status that would clear the way for greater political and security cooperation at a time when the right-wing government of President Javier Milei aims to boost ties with Western powers and attract investment. The request came as NATO's Deputy General Secretary Mircea Geoana held talks in Brussels on regional security challenges with visiting Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri. Geoana said he welcomed Argentina's bid to become an accredited partner in the alliance a valued role short of ally for nations that are not in NATO's geographical area and not required to take part in collective military actions. NATO membership is currently limited to countries of Europe, Turkey, Canada and the United States. The designation could allow Argentina access to advanced technology, security systems and training not previously available to it, the Argentine presidency said. Argentina plays an important role in Latin

G7 foreign ministers seek urgent defence support for desperate Ukraine

G7 ministers kicked off a second day of talks on the Italian island of Capri by discussing the Middle East crisis and will turn their attention to Ukraine in the afternoon

Polish Prez Duda latest leader to visit Trump as allies eye possible return

Former President Donald Trump met Wednesday in New York with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the latest in a series of meetings with foreign leaders as Europe braces for the possibility of a second Trump term. The presumptive Republican nominee hosted Duda at Trump Tower, where the two discussed the war in Ukraine and Duda's push to boost NATO members' defense spending, according to a readout from Trump's campaign. Duda, who has long expressed admiration for Trump, is also a staunch supporter of Ukraine and has encouraged Washington to provide more aid to Kyiv amid Russian's ongoing invasion. That funding has been held up by Trump allies in Congress. As he arrived, Trump praised the Polish president, saying, He's done a fantastic job and he's my friend. We had four great years together," Trump added. We're behind Poland all the way." Duda is the latest foreign leader to meet with Trump in the weeks since he locked up the Republican nomination. U.S. allies across the world were caugh

Trump to meet Duda as Nato leaders call for additional support for Ukraine

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday in New York. The planned dinner meeting, confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, comes as European leaders prepare for the possibility that Trump might win the November election and return to the White House. Leaders of NATO countries are especially concerned given Trump's long history of critical comments about the key western alliance, even after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, is a NATO member. Duda, a right-wing populist whose term ends in 2025, has encouraged the United States to send additional funding to Ukraine to combat Russian aggression. Trump has spoken out against such funding, but in a possible shift late last week, the Republican presidential candidate said he may support additional funding if it was in the fo

India-US partnership has achieved new heights: US NSA Jake Sullivan

The partnership between India and the United States has reached a new height with collaboration on technology and other fields, the US National Security Advisor has said. "The partnership between the US and India, a country in BRICs, has gone to new heights with an engagement across technology and security and so many other dimensions," NSA Jake Sullivan told reporters at a White House news conference. Sullivan was responding to questions on the decline in American leadership in the world, in light of Iran, Egypt, UAE, and Ethiopia joining BRICS, and Saudi Arabia mulling over becoming part of it. "I think if you look at the US role and standing in its relationships across the key regions of the world, we feel very good about where we are," Sullivan said. "If you look at what's happened with NATO, we've made NATO larger than ever, if you look at what's just happening this week, a historic trilateral with the US, Japan, and the Philippines. If you look across the Indo-Pacific at how

Ukraine fires over 50 drones against Russia in one of biggest air attacks

Ukraine fired more than 40 drones into Russia's bordering Rostov region, Moscow defense officials said on Friday, in what appeared to be one of its biggest air attacks in the war and as Kyiv's forces step up their assaults on Russian soil. Russia's Defense Ministry said a total of 44 drones were intercepted and destroyed in the Morozovsky district, more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the border. The attack damaged a power substation, Rostov Gov. Vasily Golubev said. Russian media reported that there is a military airfield near the town of Morozovsk, but it was unclear whether the airfield was the target of the attack. The Russian defense ministry said nine more drones were intercepted over Russia's border regions of Kursk, Belgorod, Krasnodar and the nearby Saratov region. Ukrainian officials rarely comment on such strikes and provided no immediate response. Drone warfare is a key feature of the war, which has extended into a third year since Russia's full-scale invasion of

Nato marks 75th birthday as Ukraine war, rising populism gnaw at its unity

NATO will celebrate on Thursday 75 years of collective defense across Europe and North America as Russia's war on Ukraine enters its third year and sorely tests the allies' resolve while rising populism gnaws at their unity. At a cake-cutting ceremony in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts will mark the moment the alliance's founding treaty was signed on April 4, 1949, in Washington. A bigger celebration is planned when NATO leaders meet in Washington from July 9 to 11. Sweden's foreign minister, Tobias Billstrm, is taking part in the first ministerial-level meeting since his country became NATO's 32nd ally last month. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 drove Sweden and its Nordic neighbor Finland into NATO's arms. The alliance's ranks have almost tripled over more than seven decades from its 12 founding members, but Finland and Sweden joined in record time to shelter under NATO's collective security guarantee, after coming und

Nato @ 75

The transatlantic alliance seeks a global role

Nato debates plan to provide long-term military support to Ukraine

NATO is debating a plan to provide more predictable military support to Ukraine in coming years as better armed Russian troops assert control on the battlefield, the organisation's top civilian official said Wednesday. We strongly believe that support to Ukraine should be less dependent on short-term, voluntary offers and more dependent on long-term NATO commitments, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said before chairing a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers in Brussels. Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine lowered the military conscription age from 27 to 25 to help replenish its depleted ranks after more than two years of war. A shortage of infantry combined with a severe ammunition shortfall has helped hand Russian troops the initiative. The reason why we do this is the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine. It is serious, Stoltenberg told reporters. We see how Russia is pushing, and we see how they try to win this war by just waiting us out. The plan is to have NATO ...

Nato proposes $100 billion package over five years to aid Ukraine

Allies are still discussing Stoltenberg's proposal and any mechanics of the accounting, including whether to factor in bilateral aid to Ukraine into the overall sum

Russia will not attack Nato, but F-16s will be shot down in Ukraine: Putin

The Kremlin, which accuses the U.S. of fighting against Russia by supporting Ukraine with money, weapons and intelligence, says relations with Washington have probably never been worse

Russia's Putin warns west, says conflict with Nato just one step from WW3

The Ukraine war has triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Polish prez pushes Nato to ramp up spending, calls on US to fund Ukraine

President Andrzej Duda used a joint White House visit with his political rival, Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on Tuesday to call on NATO allies to significantly increase defense spending and press a divided Washington to break its impasse over replenishing funds for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war in Europe. Duda wants members of the NATO alliance to raise their spending on defense to three per cent of their GDP as Russia puts its own economy on a war footing and pushes forward with its plans to conquer Ukraine. Poland already spends four per cent of its own economic output on defense, double the current target of two per cent for NATO nations. The Polish leader made the call as he and Tusk visited Washington to mark their country's 25th anniversary of joining the now 32-member transatlantic military alliance. It was a historic step into the West after breaking free from Moscow's sphere of influence after decades of communist rule. Russia's against Ukraine really demonstrated

Erdogan offers to host peace summit with Russia during Zelenskyy visit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose NATO-member country has sought to balance its close relations with both Ukraine and Russia, offered during a visit Friday from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to host a peace summit between the two countries. Erdogan, who has repeatedly discussed brokering a peace deal, said at a news conference in Istanbul following his meeting with Zelenskyy that he hoped Russia would be on board with Turkey's offer. Since the beginning, we have contributed as much as we could toward ending the war through negotiations," Erdogan said. "We are also ready to host a peace summit in which Russia will also be included. Ukraine remains firm on not engaging directly with Russia on peace talks, and Zelenskyy has said multiple times the initiative in peace negotiations must belong to the country which has been invaded. Zelenskyy said any peace negotiations must align with a 10-point plan he has previously suggested, which includes food security, ...

Sweden officially joins Nato after completing its accession process

Sweden on Thursday formally joined NATO as the 32nd member of the transatlantic military alliance, ending decades of post-World War II neutrality as concerns about Russian aggression in Europe have spiked following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Secretary of State Antony Blinken presided at a ceremony in which Sweden's instrument of accession to the alliance was officially deposited at the State Department. Later Thursday. Kristersson will visit the White House and then be a guest of honor at President Joe Biden's State of the Union address to Congress. The White House said that having Sweden as a NATO ally will make the United States and our allies even safer. "NATO is the most powerful defensive alliance in the history of the world, and it is as critical today to ensuring the security of our citizens as it was 75 years ago when our alliance was founded out of the wreckage of World War II, it said in a statement. Sweden, along with .

Europe's higher defence expenditure may hit exports

To find more resources to fund higher defence expenditure, Europe may have to raise taxes or cut government spending on welfare and other development activities

Sweden joins Nato bidding farewell to more than 2 centuries of neutrality

Sweden's last war ended in 1814, and when the rifles and cannons it aimed at Norway fell silent, the once-warring power would not take up arms again. For the next two centuries, Sweden embraced a policy of neutrality, refusing to take sides in wars or join any military alliance. It was a stance that kept peace at home and contributed to the country becoming a prosperous welfare state and humanitarian superpower. This remarkably long era of nonalignment is coming to a close as Sweden joins NATO. The ceremonial formalities are expected soon, after 18 months of delays while Turkey and Hungary held up ratification and sought concessions from other members of the alliance. Sweden is now leaving 200 years of neutrality and nonalignment behind us," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said after Hungary's Parliament gave its approval Monday, overcoming the final hurdle. "It is a big step. We must take that seriously. But it is also a very natural step that we are taking. Sweden, like ..

Putin warns of nuclear war risk, says Moscow can strike Western targets

Visibly angry, Putin suggested Western politicians recall the fate of those like Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler and France's Napoleon Bonaparte who had unsuccessfully invaded Russia in the past

Best of BS Opinion: The Nato conundrum, recalibrating spend, and more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today