Contents tagged with NATO

  • Obama: There cannot be 'business as usual' with Russia until Minsk agreements are implemented

    Speaking at the NATO Summit in Warsaw on Saturday, US President Barack Obama said that relations with Moscow cannot normalize until Russia implements the Minsk agreements, Radio Svoboda reported.

    “Our 28 nations [NATO] are united in our view that there can be no business as usual with Russia until it fully implements its Minsk obligations,” Obama said.

    At his first NATO summit in 2009, Obama stressed that one of the Alliance’s main goals should the pursuit of “a constructive relationship with …

  • Poroshenko: Ukraine can teach NATO using its experiences from the war with Russia

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko believes that the collective security of NATO may benefit from the Ukrainian experience of war with Russia as indicated in an article the President wrote for the Wall Street Journal.

    According to him, Russian aggression on the eastern flank of NATO’s territory is aggression not only against Ukraine, but against the whole Western world.

    "There is not a single NATO country that has experience of combat with the modern Russian army. And Ukraine has such …

  • Almost half the population of Finland supports holding a referendum on joining NATO

    According to a survey conducted by Taloustutkimus market research company, almost half of residents of Finland support holding a referendum on joining NATO, Finish news portal, Yle reported. 48% of residents stated that they want a national referendum and 40% of respondents expressed their opposition. Mostly people over 65 years old supported the referendum. The opponents of the referendum, as a rule, were aged 35–49 years.

    At the same time, media surveys, conducted jointly by the newspaper …

  • Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs: NATO will deploy 10,000 servicemen to Poland in 2017

    During the NATO Summit the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, stated that up to 10,000 servicemen from NATO countries could be deployed in Poland next year.

    “If necessary, we will have 10,000 NATO servicemen on our territory, mostly American soldiers. 5,000 soldiers will be deployed in Szczecin. In addition, a missile defense base will be opened in Redzikowo. Those would be crucial changes in the security mechanism,” Waszczykowski said. The Polish Minister reiterated  …

  • Ukraine hopes to provide strategic air transport to NATO

    Ukraine’s leadership has decided to withdraw from the tripartite cooperation program between Ukraine, Russia and NATO, according to which the Alliance has used the capabilities of Ukrainian strategic aviation.

    The acting head of the Mission of Ukraine to NATO, Yehor Bozhok, said this in an interview with Evropeyskaya Pravda.

    He named Ukrainian strategic AN-124 Ruslan planes among the items that Ukraine offers to enhance the Alliance’s defense capability.

    “Until now we had a program, …

  • Ukrainian MoD: Separatists have increased attacks in the Donbas prior to NATO summit

    The head of the public relations department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Bogdan Senik stated in his comment to Ukrainian Pravda that the increase in shelling in eastern Ukraine zone that has been observed in recent days can be explained by the desire to provoke Ukrainian servicemen before the NATO Summit.

    “We connect the tendency towards increasing the amount of shelling over the recent period with holding of landmark meetings such as meeting in Minsk or other events, where the issue on de- …

  • Polish Defense Minister: Strengthening NATO’s eastern flank guarantees protection from Russia

    Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz stated in an interview with IAR news agency that "the strengthening of the eastern NATO flank guarantees the protection of Poland from aggressive Russian behavior," Polish Radio reports.

    Macierewicz emphasized that the deployment of NATO troops in Poland and the Baltic States will not be for the training purposes.

    "We are talking about army, structures and weapons of which will be enough to counter the aggressor," the Polish Defense Minister said. …

  • British General: Ukraine will never be a NATO member

    A Retired General of the British Army, Richard Shirreff, who held a senior position in the European NATO structure, stated in an interview with Deutsche Welle that he believes that Ukraine should follow Finland’s example and not pursue NATO membership.

    Shirreff is the author of the book, 2017: War with Russia. When asked if it is realistic that Ukraine will join NATO one day, he replied, "No, I don’t think it is even realistic. First of all, from a political perspective, Ukraine’s admission to …

  • Belarus does not see the deployment of NATO troops in the Baltic States as a threat

    The deployment of additional NATO troops into neighboring countries is not a direct threat to the security of Belarus, as stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, after a meeting with the Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkēvičs, a Belarusian News Agency reports.

    "As for the prospect of deploying new contingents of NATO troops into the Baltic States and Poland; of course, we do not welcome the deployment of additional military contingents within the …

  • Polish President: NATO’s doors should be open to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova

    Andrzej Duda stated in an interview with PAP (Polish Press Agency) that NATO should leave the doors open for Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova.

    According to him, the Alliance should cooperate closely with Sweden and Finland, because these states are already strategically linked with NATO and the cooperation with them should be enhanced.

    "In my view, the Alliance should primarily maintain an open-door policy. We cannot say that the North Atlantic Alliance is already full and that no more states can …