Page 16 - Nato

NATO chief makes last-ditch bid to bring Sweden into fold before summit

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that he will call an urgent meeting in the coming days to try to overcome Turkish objections to Sweden joining the military organisation. It's a last-ditch effort to have the Nordic country standing alongside the allies at a major summit next month. NATO requires the unanimous approval of all members to expand. Turkiye accuses Sweden of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara says pose a security threat, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt. Stoltenberg said he has held fresh talks on Sweden's candidacy with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as senior officials from Sweden and neighbouring Finland, which became the 31st member of the world's biggest security organization in April. We agreed to convene a high-level meeting in Brussels before the summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius beginning July 11, Stoltenberg told reporters. The aim is to make progress in ...

Denmark to start training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s amid war with Russia

Denmark's government said Monday that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 jets has started and the retirement of Scandinavian country's fleet of aging US fighters has been moved up two years. The replacement fighters, F-35s, will be operative by 2025, acting Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said. Initially, the switch was planned for 2027. Lund Poulsen said that NATO-member Denmark has taken the step of starting a training and further education effort for the Ukrainian pilots." We will also consider whether we should make a concrete donation to Ukraine of the Danish F-16 fighters, and how many there should be," he said. Ukrainian pilots must spend six to eight months of training before a possible donation of Danish F-16 aircraft can become a reality, Lund Poulsen told Danish broadcaster DR. This does not mean that you cannot make a decision beforehand. But (the F-16 planes) will be in Denmark until 2024, Lund Poulsen said. Denmark has ordered 27 F-35A fighter jets, which

NATO moves to protect undersea pipelines amid Russian sabotage threat

NATO launched a new center Friday for protecting undersea pipelines and cables following the still-unsolved apparent attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and amid concern Russia is mapping vital Western infrastructure for energy and the internet in waters around Europe. The threat is developing, Lt. Gen. Hans-Werner Wiermann, who heads a special cell focused on the challenge, said after NATO defense ministers gave the greenlight for the new center, located in Northwood, northwest London. Russian ships have actively mapped our critical undersea infrastructure. There are heightened concerns that Russia may target undersea cables and other critical infrastructure in an effort to disrupt Western life, he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO was spurred into action after an apparent attack on two Baltic Sea gas pipelines in September. The suspected attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany, are stil

NATO to protect undersea pipelines, cables amid Russian sabotage threat

NATO launched a new centre Friday for protecting undersea pipelines and cables following the still-unsolved apparent attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and amid concern Russia is mapping vital Western infrastructure for energy and the internet in waters around Europe. The threat is developing, Lt. Gen. Hans-Werner Wiermann, who heads a special cell focused on the challenge, said after NATO defence ministers gave the greenlight for the new centre, located in Northwood, northwest London. Russian ships have actively mapped our critical undersea infrastructure.There are heightened concerns that Russia may target undersea cables and other critical infrastructure in an effort to disrupt Western life, he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO was spurred into action after an apparent attack on two Baltic Sea gas pipelines in September. The suspected attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany, are still

NATO sees no change in Russia's nuclear posture despite Belarus' claims

NATO sees no sign that Russia has changed its nuclear posture, the head of the military alliance said Thursday, after President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Belarus has already received some tactical nuclear weapons from Moscow. In an interview on state television on Tuesday, Lukashenko brashly warned that he wouldn't hesitate to order their use if Belarus faced an act of aggression. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the weapons will be deployed to Belarus next month and will remain under Moscow's exclusive control. We are, of course, closely monitoring what Russia is doing. So far, we haven't seen any changes in the nuclear posture that requires any changes in our posture, Stoltenberg told reporters before chairing a meeting of NATO defence ministers at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels. NATO's secretive nuclear defence planning group is set to meet on Friday. The meeting has long been planned and is not a reaction to recent developments, but the alliance is ...

Nato debates ways to boost ties with Ukraine as war against invasion drags

NATO defence ministers gathered Thursday to discuss future relations with Ukraine as Russia's war on the country thwarts its hopes of joining the world's biggest security alliance soon. The ministers were also due to take part in a separate meeting at NATO headquarters of the US-led Ukraine Contact Group the forum Ukraine's supporters routinely join to try to drum up weapons and ammunition to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion. The NATO meeting comes just under a month before US President Joe Biden and his counterparts gather for a summit in Lithuania in a symbolic show of support for Ukraine. They are expected to underscore their determination to act should Russian President Vladimir Putin try to expand the war westward. NATO agreed in 2008 that Ukraine would join the organisation one day, but did not set a date for it to start membership talks. As the war ground on, Ukraine applied for accelerated accession to NATO on September 30. With its Crimean Peninsula annexed, and Russi

Turkey, Sweden agree to hold more talks on NATO bid ahead of summit

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year but faced objections from Turkey on the grounds that the two countries harbour members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Gulen movement

Nato set to boost troops on high alert and increase ammunition production

NATO is set to boost the number of troops on high alert and increase ammunition production, its Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said

Ukraine making progress, advancing against Russian forces: NATO leader

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told President Joe Biden at an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday that Ukrainians are "making progress with their counteroffensive, which could bolster their position when there's an opportunity to reach a diplomatic end to the war with Russia. The support that we are providing together for Ukraine is now making a difference on the battlefield as we speak, Stoltenberg said. Because the offensive has launched, and the Ukrainians are making progress, making advances." He added, It's still early days, but what we do know is that the more land that Ukrainians are able to liberate, the stronger hand they will have at the negotiating table. Biden said NATO has grown more unified during the Ukraine war and we're going to be building on that momentum when the alliance holds its annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11 and 12. The White House meeting, the fourth between the two leaders, occurred at a moment of particular peril and uncertainty for

NATO begins biggest ever air exercise amid fears of flight delays

Some 10,000 soldiers and 250 aircraft, including 70 from Germany and more than 100 from the US, take part in the maneouver until June 23

Biden to host Nato's Stoltenberg as competition to replace him heats up

President Joe Biden is welcoming outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to the White House for talks on Monday as the competition to find his successor to lead the military alliance heats up. Stoltenberg, who has led the NATO since 2014 and has had his tenure extended three times, said earlier this year he would move on when his current time expires at the end of September. The jockeying to replace him is intensifying as leaders of the 31-member military alliance are set to meet next month for their annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Last week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the case for U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace directly to Biden. The U.S. president also met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, another potential contender. Asked about the NATO job at a news conference with Sunak by his side, Biden called Wallace very qualified but noted that the conversation among NATO leaders to find a consensus pick to replace Stoltenberg was ongoing. Biden's

Sweden to join NATO soon, says Biden despite objections by Turkey, Hungary

US President Joe Biden has said he is certain that Sweden will join NATO "as soon as possible," in spite of Turkey and Hungary continuing to obstruct the Scandinavian nation's entry into the alliance

NATO presses Turkey to drop objections to Sweden's membership as meet nears

NATO on Thursday ramped up pressure on its member Turkiye to drop its objections to Sweden's membership as the military organisation seeks to deal with the issue by the time US President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet next month. Fearing that they might be targeted after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Sweden and Finland abandoned their traditional positions of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO's security umbrella. Finland became NATO's 31st member country in April. NATO must agree unanimously for countries to join. Turkiye's government accuses Sweden of being too lenient on terrorist organisations and security threats, including militant Kurdish groups and people associated with a 2016 coup attempt. Hungary has also delayed its approval, but the reasons why have not been made publicly clear. It's time for Sweden to join now, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt told reporters in Oslo, where she was hosting a meeting with her counterparts to prepar

Russia's upper house supports denunciation of armed forces treaty with NATO

The upper house of the parliament of Russia announced on social media that its senators approved a bill on the denunciation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)

US aircraft carrier 'USS General Ford' arrives in NATO-member Norway

A US aircraft carrier arrived on Wednesday in Oslo with the Norwegian armed forces saying it gives them a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally, the United States. The nuclear-powered ship USS General Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed people on board. The Norwegian armed forces has said any boats must stay a half-kilometre (half-mile) away from the aircraft carrier and a no-fly zone was created over the area where the aircraft carrier was. Described as the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the vessel's first foreign call was broadcast live on Norwegian public television. Onlooker, some using binoculars, were seen on land watching as the large aircraft carrier glided deeper and deeper into the fjord and eventually reach the city of Oslo. The vessel will stay in the Norwegian capital until Tuesday. After that, it will take part in drills with the Norwegian armed forces. In

NATO's 'reckless' expansion harms talks on European security: Russian FM

"The situation in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe is "deplorable" and "continues to worsen due to the unwillingness of NATO members to moderate their ambitions," he added

NATO mulls security guarantees for Ukraine but wary of igniting a war

NATO leaders are discussing ways to ensure that Ukraine does not come under attack from Russia again once the war is over, but they are concerned about doing anything that might drag the organization into a wider conflict, the head of the military alliance said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seeking security guarantees from the 31-nation alliance to ward off any future attack from Ukraine's neighbour. Some countries are weighing what could be done to avoid a repeat of the war. Russia already annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. There are consultations that are going on, ahead of a summit involving US President Joe Biden and his counterparts in Lithuania on July 11-12, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during an interview with his predecessor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at a conference in Copenhagen. Stoltenberg declined to provide details about those talks. NATO allies benefit from a collective security guarantee so called Article 5 of the ...

Ukraine implements 18% of NATO standards: Defence Minister Reznikov

Ukraine does not need to implement 100% of the standards to become a member of the organization, he noted

Nato allies sent 1,550 combat vehicles, 230 tanks to Ukraine during war

NATO allies and partner countries have delivered more than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine during Russia's invasion and war, the military alliance's chief said Thursday, giving Kyiv a bigger punch as it contemplates launching a counteroffensive. Along with more than 1,550 armoured vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, Ukraine's allies have sent vast amounts of ammunition and also trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian brigades, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. More than 30,000 troops are estimated to make up the new brigades. Some NATO partner countries, such as Sweden and Australia, have also provided armoured vehicles. "This will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. His comments came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a long and meaningful phone call in their first known contact since Russia's full-scal

Nato allies send 1,500 combat vehicles, 230 tanks to Ukraine amid war

NATO countries have delivered more than 98 per cent of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine amid its war with Russia, the military alliance's chief said on Thursday, giving Kyiv a bigger punch as it appears poised to launch a counteroffensive. Along with more than 1,550 armoured vehicles, 230 tanks and other equipment, member nations have sent Ukraine vast amounts of ammunition and also trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian brigades, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. More than 30,000 troops are estimated to make up the new brigades. "This will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. His comments came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had a long and meaningful phone call in their first known contact since Russia's full-scale invasion more than a year ago. Though Zelenskyy wsaid he was encouraged by Wednesday's call and Western