Lavrov speaks out against NATO at UN

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NATO is building up its naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean as the United States, Britain and France prepare to carry out new strikes against Syria under the pretext of an unlikely Syrian government chemical weapons attack in Idlib province.

Mon Sep 17, 2018 - NATO Warships Moving Closer to Syrian Coast
Farsnews

Warships from NATO’s 2nd Standing Maritime Group are patrolling Eastern Mediterranean waters, moving closer and closer to the Syrian coast, media reports said, citing Western websites monitoring naval activity in the region, Sputnik reported.

The NATO flotilla cruising off the Syrian coast reportedly consists of a Dutch frigate, the De Ruyter, a Canadian frigate, the Ville de Quebec, and a Greek cruiser, the Elli.

This information was confirmed by the captain of the Dutch frigate in his microblog.

According to earlier reports, a Los Angeles-Class US submarine, the USS Newport News, armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, has entered the Mediterranean Sea to join a US naval task force consisting of two nuclear submarines with cruise missiles on board and two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, the USS Carney and the USS Ross.

Recently, the Russian military announced that the militants are preparing to use chemical weapons in Syria, and the US could use this as a reason for a new attack on Syrian state facilities.

The US, UK, and France carried out coordinated massive airstrikes on Syria in April 2018 after the alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma had been reported by the controversial NGO "White Helmets", which has repeatedly been caught staging false flag attacks.


17.09.2018 - NATO to Build Massive Command-and-Control Center in Afghanistan's Capital
NATO to Build Massive Command-and-Control Center in Afghanistan’s Capital

Almost 17 years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, NATO is now bidding a contract to build a large, concrete command-and-control center in Kabul, the country’s capital and largest city.

According to a NATO procurement document, the complex is expected to consist of more than 800 work spaces, Stars and Stripes reported Monday. The structure is planned to be a three-story, 120,000-square-foot concrete building. However, according to officials, additional details cannot be released during the bidding and design phase of the project, Stripes and Stripes reported Monday.

Earlier this summer, a permanent passenger terminal and control tower were built at NATO's helicopter landing zone in Kabul due to an increase in air traffic and security concerns amid heightened violence in the capital.

"This project was accomplished rapidly… due to the significant increase of helicopter flights at [Resolute Support] RS HQ, which made the previous provisional arrangements untenable," the NATO Support and Procurement Agency said in a July statement.

During recent years, helicopter commutes to and from NATO's Resolute Support headquarters have become more frequent as bombings and ambushes have made road travel for coalition troops and officials risker. Civilian personnel who work at the US Embassy, which is adjacent to the NATO compound, are not allowed to travel to Kabul International Airport by road, John F. Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, announced earlier this year.

Afghanistan has long been in a state of political turmoil, with the government unable to establish full control over the country's territory due to various terrorist factions, in particular the Taliban and Daesh.

The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as a reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the mission lasting until December 28, 2014. In 2015, NATO initiated a new mission, Resolute Support, which was aimed at providing training assistance to Afghan security forces. Nevertheless, seemingly endless US operations have shown limited effectiveness at establishing enduring peace in Afghanistan.

 

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US Envoy to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison clarified on Tuesday that she did not intend to threaten a preemptive military attack on Russia when she said earlier in the day that the United States could one day "take out" Russian missile systems that allegedly violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

02.10.2018 - 'I was not talking about Preemptively Striking Russia' - US NATO Envoy
'I Was Not Talking About Preemptively Striking Russia' - US NATO Envoy

"I was not talking about preemptively striking Russia. My point: Russia needs to return to INF Treaty compliance or we will need to match its capabilities to protect US & NATO interests. The current situation, with Russia in blatant violation, is untenable," Hutchison said in a Twitter post.

During a press conference earlier on Tuesday, Hutchison said the US could employ countermeasures to "take out" missiles that Russia is allegedly developing.

The 1987 INF Treaty prohibits the development, deployment and testing of ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles. The United States and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of violating the treaty.

"We are not moving in that direction right now, but we are trying to tell Russia… that we know they have violated the treaty and we are beginning the research capabilities that are allowed by the treaty to deter a medium-range ballistic missile. So I think they are on notice," Hutchison said during the press conference earlier on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the statement, that Moscow did not pay great attention to the remarks made by the envoys since it had enough uncertainties with high-ranking politicians.

"[The Kremlin] prefers not to pay extra attention to statements by ambassadors while we have too many uncertainties with the messages on the higher level," Peskov told the CNN broadcaster.

Also, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Hutchison should realize the danger of her aggressive rhetoric.

Earlier on Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russian to be more transparent and explain its alleged violations of the INF Treaty.

Stoltenberg said the United States has shared information with NATO that Moscow started deploying ground-based cruise missiles 9M729 (NATO designation SSC-8) allegedly in violation of the INF treaty.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has said that the 9M729 missiles correspond to Russia's obligations under the INF Treaty and have not been upgraded and tested for the prohibited range. Moscow pointed out that the United States has provided no proof that Russia has in fact violated the treaty by deploying the missiles.

Earlier, in May, US President Donald Trump issued a memo ordering State Secretary Mike Pompeo to propose sanctions on Russia in response to alleged violations of the INF Treaty. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on the matter, said that Russia had never violated the treaty, adheres to its obligations and intends to continue doing so.


Oct. 2, 2018 - Diplomat chides remarks by US NATO envoy on plans to destroy Russian missiles as dangerous
Diplomat chides remarks by US NATO envoy on plans to destroy Russian missiles as dangerous

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described as dangerous the statement by US Representative to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison that the United States would destroy Russian missiles developed, as she claimed, in violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

"It seems that people who make such statements do not understand the degree of their responsibility and the danger of such aggressive rhetoric. Who has this lady been authorized by to make such statements? By the American people?," Zakharova said on Tuesday.


Oct. 2, 2018 - Serbia doesn’t want to be part of NATO, Vucic says
Serbia doesn’t want to be part of NATO, Vucic says

According to the president, the country aims to safeguard its military neutrality .

Serbia does not want to be part of the North Atlantic Alliance but wants to stay militarily neutral, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I told Putin that we have good relations with all military alliances, including NATO. But Serbia has no striving and no plans to be part of NATO. Serbia want to safeguard its military neutrality and that is why we are taking effort to strengthen our army to be able to repel any possible attacks on our country," he said.


Oct. 2, 2018 - Moscow to respond to NATO’s increased presence in Norway
Moscow to respond to NATO’s increased presence in Norway

Russia will respond to NATO’s increased military presence in northern Norway, namely, the NATO military drills in the region, in order to ensure its security, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Tuesday.

"The escalation of NATO’s military and political activity in the Arctic region, namely, in the immediate vicinity of Russia on the territory of northern Norway, hasn’t gone unnoticed," Zakharova said. "In violation of all time-tested traditions of good neighborliness and against the policy of the Norwegian government established way back in the Cold War period on self-restraint, [which says] "not to provide bases on Norwegian territory for armed forces of foreign powers unless Norway is under attack or under threat of attack", Oslo set the course for unprecedented militarization of its northern latitudes."

"In a series of recent unfriendly steps taken by Norway there is the agreement to double the existent contingency of US Marine Corps from 330 to 770 people, to extend their rotating, that is, virtually permanent, presence by five years, to expand their placement in the north. [They also agreed] to hold the most large-scale military drills in the history of Russia near the Russian border at the end of October - NATO Trident Juncture 2018, with the participation of more than 40 thousand people from over 30 countries," she noted.

"We have to state that such irresponsible actions will inevitably destabilize the military and political situation in the north, increase tensions and undermine the fabric of Russian-Norwegian relations," Zakharova said. "All these NATO preparations cannot be ignored, and the Russian Federation will take the necessary tit-for-tat measures to ensure its own security."

Moscow is confident that the Arctic and northern Europe "must remain a low-tension zone." "Reckless saber-rattling in this previously calm region can have far-reaching consequences, and not through any fault of ours," Zakharova concluded.


Oct. 2, 2018 - NATO invites Russia to monitor Trident Juncture military drills
NATO invites Russia to monitor Trident Juncture military drills

Trident Juncture 2018 will be one of NATO's biggest exercises in many years, according to Jens Stoltenberg.

NATO has invited Russian observers to monitor the upcoming Trident Juncture drills in Norway that will simulate NATO’s collective response to an armed attack against its member country, its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference ahead of the meetings of the NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels on October 3-4.

"All members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, including Russia, have been invited to send observers," Stoltenberg said.

"This is one of our biggest exercises in many years. It will include around 45,000 participants from 31 Allied countries and partners. With around 150 aircraft, 60 ships, and over 10,000 vehicles," he added. "The scenario is fictitious but realistic," the NATO chief went on to say.

"It will simulate NATO’s collective response to an armed attack against one Ally. And it will exercise our ability to reinforce our troops from Europe and across the Atlantic," he said.

"The exercise is defensive. And it is transparent," Stoltenberg stressed.

The NATO-led Trident Juncture 18 military exercise will be held in Norway in October-November

It will bring together more than 40,000 military from 31 countries, both Allied countries and NATO partners, including, in particular, Finland and Sweden. This will be NATO’s largest military exercise in the past 16 years.


02.10.2018 - Observers explain Three Reasons behind NATO's push for Macedonia Admission
Observers Explain Three Reasons Behind NATO's Push for Macedonia Admission

There are several reasons for NATO leadership's determination to take Macedonia aboard, observers told Sputnik, commenting on the September 30 plebiscite in the country. However, regardless of the alliance and Washington's enthusiasm over the vote, the referendum has prompted concerns in the West.

Macedonia's renaming will open the door to NATO for the country and allow the alliance to form a united anti-Russian front in the Balkans, says Konstantin Sivkov, a military specialist and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Three Reasons Why NATO Wants to Absorb Macedonia

The NATO leadership is digging its heels in and creating a 'fence' along our western borders," Sivkov told Sputnik. "Last year, Montenegro, another Balkan state, was admitted [to NATO]. Thus, the alliance severed Serbia, a potential ally of Russia, from the Adriatic Sea. Macedonia is a landlocked country that borders NATO members — Greece, Bulgaria, and Albania. That is, the alliance forms a united front."

The military specialist did not rule out that NATO may use Macedonia as a foothold in case the US withdraws from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

"[Macedonia] is well suited for the deployment of American missiles as the flight time to major Russian cities from the country is very small. Perhaps, elements of a global US missile defense will be deployed there," he presumed.

Director General of the Center for Political Information Alexey Mukhin opined that Macedonia's admission to NATO would allow the alliance to beef up the American and British presence in continental Europe.

"NATO is taking over Europe in the interests of the United States," the scholar said. "There is no doubt that this processes will continue with regard to other countries. Ukraine is the next in line."

On the other hand, Sputnik military observer Andrei Kots believes that Western arms producers are planning to capitalize on the modernization of the Macedonian Armed Forces.

"[Macedonia's] armament, mostly of Soviet-Russian production, will have to be replaced with Western weapons," the observer noted in his op-ed. "However, some of this has already been done: the Macedonian military has long been using Western rifles — American M4 and M240 machine guns, German Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns, and Czech CZ 75 semi-automatic pistols."

The armed forces of Macedonia are composed of three brigades — infantry, aviation and logistics, as well as the Special Operations Regiment, which includes the Ranger Battalion and the Special Forces Battalion "Wolves." The country does not have naval forces as it does not have access to the sea.

Currently, the country's ground forces largely rely on 31 T-72 tanks, Soviet-era BMP-2 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles, MT-LB amphibious armored tracked vehicles, BTR-70 and BTR-80 amphibious armored personnel carriers (APC), Kots elaborated. In addition, he continued, Macedonia had purchased over 100 TM-170 Hermelin armored personnel carriers from Germany, 10 ELVO Leonidas-2 armored vehicles from Greece and about three dozen outdated M113 APCs from the US.

The country's artillery comprises Soviet-made BM-21 "Grad" multiple rocket launchers, M-30 howitzers, and American M2A1 cannons, Kots remarked, adding that Macedonia's air force is represented mostly by helicopters, including six Mil Mi-24s acquired from Ukraine and modernized by the Israeli firm Elbit. According to the military observer, the Macedonian Army also possesses six Mi-17s and several US-made Bell UH-1 Iroquois.

The country's military budget for 2018 is estimated at 6.4 billion Macedonian denars ($123.3 million), which is comparable with that of its neighbor, Albania ($169.4 million).

Kots remarked that it remained unclear whether the country's military would find resources to upgrade Macedonia's outdated vehicle park in case of its admission to NATO.

It's All About Name

Macedonia's name change referendum was held on September 30. Although the majority of those voting endorsed the change, just 36 percent of eligible voters took part in the plebiscite, with 50 percent needed.

Earlier, Skopje had reached an agreement with Greece to change Macedonia's name to Republic of North Macedonia, thus removing the final obstacle to its EU and NATO membership.

On October 1, NATO issued an official statement saying that "in yesterday's consultative referendum, an overwhelming majority of those voting supported that path," adding that "it is now in the hands of politicians in Skopje to decide on the way forward."

For its part, the US State Department welcomed the vote, highlighting that Macedonia's name change would allow the country "to take its place in NATO and the EU, contributing to regional stability, security, and prosperity."

However, some Western mainstream media have expressed skepticism over the vote, with The Washington Post saying that the low turnout of Macedonia's plebiscite has "made things awkward for the West."

The low turnout was seen as a blow not only to the efforts of the 'Yes' camp but also its vociferous backers in Brussels, Berlin, and Washington," the media outlet opined.

For its part, The Economist presumed that instead of sorting things out, Macedonian voters "have opened the door to instability and uncertainty."

 

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Russia should take up NATO’s invitation to send observers to the 2018 Trident Juncture military exercises as it is in Moscow’s best interest to observe the readiness and capabilities of the forces involved, US Navy Admiral James G. Foggo III said on Friday.

05.10.2018 - 'I Want Them To Be There': US Admiral Wants Russia to see NATO Exercise
'I Want Them to Be There': US Admiral Wants Russia to See NATO Exercise

“I fully expect that they will want to come. I want them to be there so they can see how well we work together,” Foggo, commander of US naval forces in Europe and Africa and of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples told reporters at a Department of Defense briefing.

Trident Juncture 18, starting later this month, is NATO’s largest exercise in many years and will involve 40,000 participants, 130 aircraft and 70 vessels from more than 30 nations, Foggo acknowledged. The exercise will also involve an amphibious landing on the coast of Norway near Stavanger, he said.

Without explicitly naming Russia, he said the exercise was intended to send a deterrent message to one nation in particular. "You can draw your own conclusion … There's an adversary that comes across NATO's border [in the exercise]. There's a strong deterrent message that will be sent,” he said.

Trident Juncture’s major Live Exercise (LIVEX) will be executed primarily on Norway’s territory, with some limited activity in Finland and Sweden and the adjacent waters, including the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Foggo confirmed.

“We need to be really strong. Exercises like Trident Juncture … They're going to see we're very good at what we do that will have a deterrent effect,” he said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on September 21 the Alliance had invited Russia and all other member states in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to attend the exercise. Stoletnberg also discussed it with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.


04.10.2018 - NATO Supports UK, Dutch Cyberattack Accusations Against Russia - Stoltenberg
NATO Supports UK, Dutch Cyberattack Accusations Against Russia - Stoltenberg

NATO stands in solidarity with London and Amsterdam in their accusations against Russia of conducting cyberattacks and urges Moscow to change its behavior, the alliance's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, stated.

"NATO Allies stand in solidarity with the decision by the Dutch and British governments to call out Russia on its blatant attempts to undermine international law and institutions. Russia must stop its reckless pattern of behavior, including the use of force against its neighbors, attempted interference in election processes, and widespread disinformation campaigns," Stoltenberg said in a statement.

In response, NATO will continue to strengthen its defense against hybrid threats and cyber attacks, he stressed.

"Today, Defense Ministers discussed the progress we are making in setting up a new Cyber Operations Centre, integrating national cyber capabilities into our missions and operations, and bolstering our cyber resilience," the secretary general concluded.

Earlier in the day, the UK Foreign Office accused Russian foreign intelligence service GRU of cyber attacks on political institutions, enterprises, media and sports, saying the GRU was "almost certainly" involved in the theft of confidential medical documents of several athletes published in August 2017 by WADA.

Also on Thursday, Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld said that four Russian citizens had been expelled from the Netherlands on April 13 on the suspicion of an attempted cyber attack on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), noting that the suspects had diplomatic passports.

NATO defense ministers' meeting is being held in Brussels on October 3-4.

Western officials put forward accusations against "Russian hackers" on a regular basis. Russia has repeatedly refuted allegations of interfering in other countries' internal affairs and elections.

 

[Cosmos]

Lavrov latest speech at the UN basically amounts to another stoic russian lecture toward a whole bunch of spoiled and nasty children about the most basic principles of the UN-Charta and decent interactions between people and nations that pretty much everyone ignores except them. You really have to admire the russian patients over the years in regards to this state of affairs. The Russians are truly the only adults in the room. Sad but true.

 

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"One US service member assigned to the NATO Resolute Support mission was killed in Afghanistan on October 4," the release said.

04.10.2018 - Resolute Support: US Soldier killed in Afghanistan, incident under investigation
Resolute Support: US Soldier Killed in Afghanistan, Incident Under Investigation

A US soldier belonging to the NATO mission in Afghanistan has been killed in combat, the alliance's Resolute Support said in a press release.


07.10.2018 - German Soldier Dies During NATO Battalion Drills in Lithuania - Defense Ministry
German Soldier Dies During NATO Battalion Drills in Lithuania -Defense Ministry

A German soldier died as a result of an incident that occurred during military drills held by the Lithuania-based NATO battalion on Saturday, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

"On October 6, during the exercises of the NATO force battalion at Pabrade range, a German serviceman died. The incident occurred when the armored vehicle driven by the soldier crashed into a tree," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the incident is being investigated by the German law enforcement agencies.

The Germany-led battalion has been deployed in Lithuania in 2017 as part of the agreement between Vilnius and NATO to establish an enhanced forward presence in the country. The battalion comprises around 1,200 troops and conducts joint drills with the Lithuanian servicemen in peacetime.

 

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Russia: Lavrov contrasts NATO bombing of Yugoslavia with rhetoric on Syria

Published on Oct 31, 2016 (1:40 min.)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov termed the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as an act of aggression, during an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV Channel in Moscow on Monday in which he contrasted Western actions then with their current rhetoric over the conflict in Syria. "This was the first armed attack in Europe on a sovereign state since 1945," he said of the 1999 air campaign.

"Aggression against Yugoslavia was precisely aggression. By the way, this was the first armed attack in Europe on a sovereign state since 1945. Looking at what is happening around Syria, our Western partners, mainly American and British, go into hysterics to the point of using public insults, including using such words as 'barbarism' and 'war crime.' I remind you that the aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was associated with a huge number of attacks on civilian infrastructure, including the broadcasting facilities of Serbian television; bridges, which were used by civilian passenger trains and many other things. Thousands were killed, including several hundred children, 250,000 refugees [were created], that no one has recalled since. If Russia, in the person of [Yevgeni] Primakov, had not reacted in the way he did to such a willful violation of international law, we would probably not have forgiven ourselves for a long time and our history would have had another very unpleasant page. He made sure that Russia showed its character and took the only correct position at that time."


THE DEATH OF YUGOSLAVIA

Published on Nov 10, 2014 (4:50:32 min.)

A Documentary detailing all the events that lead to the death of the Yugoslavian state in the 1990's.


Bombing of Serbia 1999 | Documentary 2016

Published on Apr 20, 2016 (25:29 min.)


Putin Remembers Yugoslavia

Published on Mar 27, 2014 (28:10 min.)

Today, President Putin of Russia has some deeply emotional views about the recent history of Yugoslavia. He says that what he did in Crimea is no different than what the West did in Yugoslavia.


10.10.2018 - "Good" Bombing: NATO Op Against Yugoslavia Was a War Crime - Lawyer
"Good" Bombing: NATO Op Against Yugoslavia Was a War Crime – Lawyer - Sputnik International

Jens Stoltenberg's claim that NATO "protected" Yugoslavia from the government of Slobodan Milosevic is nothing but propaganda, Christopher C. Black, a Toronto-based international criminal lawyer told Sputnik, stressing that NATO had no legal reason to attack Yugoslavia and de facto committed a war crime against the sovereign nation.

The NATO attack on Yugoslavia has nothing whatsoever to do with protecting anyone since the claims made by NATO against the government of Yugoslavia were false and were just a pretext for their aggression," says Christopher C. Black, a Toronto-based international criminal lawyer with 20 years of experience in war crimes and international relations.

Black's comment comes in response to a statement made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who told Serbia's RTS: "We are aware in NATO that many people in Serbia still have bad memories about the bombing, the airstrikes in 1999. I stress that we did this to protect civilians and stop the Milosevic regime," the NATO chief said.

"NATO countries had no legal right to bomb anyone for any reason as that is a violation of international law, the UN Charter, Nuremberg Principles etc.," the scholar underscored. "Their attack was aggression and therefore a war crime and they committed war crimes during the attack."

The NATO military campaign against sovereign Yugoslavia codenamed Operation Allied Force kicked off amid the Kosovo war (February, 1998 — June, 1999) between the country's government forces and Albanian separatists. The alliance's 78-day air raids resulted in 5,700 civilian deaths, infrastructural damages and contamination of the part of the region with depleted uranium.

Rambouillet Diktat: The Trigger for War

"The real reason NATO attacked is set out in the Rambouillet diktat presented by [then Secretary of State] Madeleine Albright to [then President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan] Milosevic in early 1999 that Yugoslavia must surrender its sovereignty and allow its total occupation by NATO forces and give up its socialist system for a free enterprise one," Black said. "If Yugoslavia refused NATO promised to attack. The Yugoslav government had to refuse such a diktat and so NATO attacked."

Rambouillet Accords envisaged the creation of a de facto independent entity in Kosovo which violated Yugoslavia's independence and sovereignty.

While the refusal to accept the unacceptable accord was used by the alliance as a trigger for the attack, there were several reasons behind NATO's invasion, the lawyer explained.

"NATO wanted to establish a base in the Balkans against Russia, to take over mineral resources at the Trepca Mine complex in Kosovo and to destroy the last socialist state in Europe," the legal practitioner said. "To justify their aggression they concocted the same types of lies against the government as they are now doing against Russia."

Almost two decades after the NATO bombing, the Trepca mining and metallurgical complex in Kosovo still remains a bone of contention between Pristina and Belgrade. The complex is split between ethnic lines, however, in October 2016 the parliament of the self-proclaimed state of Kosovo voted to take control over the complex despite Serbia's protests.

When commemorating the enterprise's 90th anniversary in December 2017 — Europe's largest lead-zinc and silver ore mine — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stressed that Belgrade would continue to fight for it, dubbing the complex "a part of family and national heritage, a part of tradition," as quoted by Serbian news outlet RTV B92.

NATO's Expansion in the Balkans

Besides claiming that NATO bombed Yugoslavia to "protect it," Stoltenberg drew attention to the "close partnership" between NATO and Serbia. Although he noted that the alliance respected Belgrade's neutrality, the question arises whether that the North Atlantic military bloc is seeking to absorb Serbia in the long run, after admitting Montenegro and signaling readiness to let Macedonia join.

Commenting on the issue, the lawyer recalled that "the Yugoslav and Serbian government was overthrown in 2000 in a putsch organized by NATO forces and their fascist agents in the group called OTPOR and the DOS organizations which were NATO assets."

He said that "the president [was] arrested on false charges and the government [was] taken over by the Quislings of the DOS group." According to Black, these groups are still powerful in Serbia. They do not represent aspirations of the Serbian people, he stressed.

Manipulating the Judgments

Black, who has long criticized the imprisonment of Slobodan Milosevic at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, stressed that the tribunal "manipulated the judgments to put out different stories as it suits them."

"As I said above the NATO claims were pure propaganda. It was NATO that used force and massive force to destroy a nation that resisted its diktats," the lawyer highlighted, calling the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) "a NATO tribunal under UN guise."

"The point is that the charges against Milosevic were bogus, he proved it in his trial," Black said.

The former Yugoslav president died in his prison cell on March 11, 2006 while on trial for war crimes at the ICTY. Although it was officially stated that Milosevic died from a heart attack the lawyer does not rule out that the ex-Yugoslav leader could have been killed, since "they did not want to release him and could not convict him."

 

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October 12, 2018 - Albania's graveyard of MiGs to become NATO air base
Albania's graveyard of MiGs to become NATO air base | Reuters


An Albanian Air Force member walks near an old non-function Airplane (Antonov An-2 ) in Kucova Air Base in Kucova, Albania, October 3, 2018. REUTERS/Florion Goga

Long the graveyard of its once mighty air force, Albania's base at Kucova is set to become a NATO station - to the delight of its former airmen longing to hear the engines roar again.

Albania retired its 224 Soviet- and Chinese-made MiGs in 2005, and since 2009 NATO neighbors Italy and Greece monitor its airspace. That led to economic decline in and around Kucova, which was called “Stalin City” during the era of Communist rule.

“The base is the first footprint of NATO in the Western Balkans as it will transform Kucova into the first NATO air base for the region,” Defense Minister Olta Xhacka told Reuters.

NATO will spend over 50 million euros ($58 million) on the first stage of work to turn Kucova into a support base for supplies, logistics, training and drills, Xhacka said.

Albania feels it has earned such a transformation at the base for helping maintain stability in the Balkans and contributing to NATO peacekeeping missions around the world.

“The region as a whole has entered into an irreversible Euro-Atlantic integration process,” Xhacka added.

News of a NATO base has stirred hopes in Kucova.

Civilians see the base project as an economic boost for an area plagued by emigration and unemployment. The last generation of trained pilots, now in their early fifties, are keen to hear the rumble of engines again, while younger people on the site mull quitting due to their low wages.

Sheep graze in the bushes between the taxiing lanes and the runway. Some 88 MiGs squat on their flat tires near three underground hangars, while birds sing around them.

The runway, conceived by Soviet planners who stored dynamite under the airfield to blow it up should it fall into enemy hands and built by political prisoners in the 1950s, has good weather conditions all year round.

“A NATO base there will boost the country’s defence capacities, and foreign investors will have more confidence in Albania. It will also be good for employment in the area,” said 68-year-old retired air force commander Klement Alikaj.

 

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The USS Harry Truman, a 104,000 ton Nimitz-class aircraft carrier capable of deploying some 90 combat and support aircraft, has entered the North Sea in preparation for Trident Juncture, a series of drills which are expected to become the largest alliance exercises in the region since the Cold War.

13.10.2018 - NATO Supreme Commander: US Carrier off Norway's Coast puts Russia 'On Notice'
NATO Supreme Commander: US Carrier Off Norway's Coast Puts Russia 'On Notice'

NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Curtis Scaparrotti has characterized the deployment of the USS Harry Truman in the North Atlantic "a demonstration of our capabilities" to Moscow.

"We are ready and we are trained and we will protect the Atlantic," Scaparrotti said, speaking to Sky News.

Pointing to Russia's efforts to modernize its military, the general noted that the alliance needs "to continue to increase" its "capabilities and to train so that we remain dominant in war-fighting capabilities. Strength is how we deter conflict, and our job is actually to prevent [it] and we will do that with a strong alliance," he said.

Accusing Russia of conducting "illegal activities" and engaging in "malign influence below the level of war," Scaparrotti said he was "glad" that the US was "calling it out because we need to put them on notice."

Escorted by nine other warships, the massive US carrier will deploy some 49 jets in the upcoming Trident Juncture drills, which are expected to run between October 25 and November 7 in and around Norway.

The drills, NATO's largest in the region since the Cold War, will involve some 50,000 troops from NATO countries, as well as Finland and Sweden.

The USS Harry Truman's deployment for the drills will be the first time a US aircraft carrier has been deployed to the Norwegian Sea since 1987.

Last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Moscow has no reason to consider the drills provocative. Earlier, Norwegian opposition politicians indicated their concerns regarding the carrier's deployment, calling the decision "unwise in relation to Russia," and warning that it may affect Oslo's traditionally good relations with Moscow.

Commissioned in 1998, the USS Harry Truman has been deployed in multiple US military operations around the world, including Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, i.e. the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Over the last several years, Russia has committed substantial resources to modernizing its navy, coastal defenses and air defenses, as well as arming navy cruisers, missile boats and other vessels with cruise missiles such as the Kalibr, capable of striking targets at ranges up to 2,500 km away from the Baltic and Black seas and the Pacific Ocean.


13.10.2018 - 'Aim of NATO to Avoid Wars, Conflicts': Stoltenberg on Upcoming Drills in Norway
'Aim of NATO to Avoid Wars, Conflicts': Stoltenberg on Upcoming Drills in Norway

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday that the alliance's upcoming Trident Juncture 2018 drills were meant to demonstrate that no country could doubt the bloc's readiness to defend its member states.

"All states have the right to conduct drills, and we do it in a very open and predictable manner," Stoltenberg told the Norwegian news agency NTB, answering a question on whether Russia should consider the exercise a provocation.

According to the official, the drills ensure security of the member states.

"The aim of NATO is to avoid wars and conflicts, and we do it in a way so that nobody could ever doubt our readiness to defend each member of the alliance," Stoltenberg added. According to the official, Russia had no reasons to believe that NATO drills were provocative.

Earlier in the day Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that Russia would take into account the increasing number of NATO exercises in Europe and other steps toward the alliance’s military build-up, which would be reflected in Russia's military planning.

Trident Juncture 2018 drills will be held in Norway between October 25 and November 7, with some 40,000 troops from 31 countries participating in the event. Back in May, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said that the drills were supposed to become a "demonstration of our capability" and a "deterrent message" to Russia.


13.10.2018 - Biden claims Putin trying to Destroy NATI, slams China's 'Hegemonic' Ambitions
Biden Claims 'Putin Trying to Destroy NATO', Slams China's 'Hegemonic' Ambitions

The former vice president, who has been dropping hints recently about making a run for the presidency, urged Washington's allies to come together to engage in a new great "competition of systems" between the West and "authoritarian powers."

In an address reminiscent of Winston Churchill's speech at Fulton, Missouri at the dawn of the Cold War, Biden attacked America's great power competitors, accusing them of sowing values that oppose those of the West.

"We're navigating a new relationship with a rising China, and a declining but aggressive Russia. China seeks to establish itself as a hegemon and a global power broker, and Russia is using every tool at its disposal to destabilize and sow discord," Biden said, speaking at Chatham House.

While accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of having the "ultimate goal" of the "dissolution of NATO and the European Union, rather than the reestablishment of the Soviet Union," Biden claimed that the Russian president would "rather deal with individual nations he can try to strong-arm than a unified democratic West."

The challenge of Russia and China, according to the former vice president, is not just one of great power competition, but a battle "of systems."

"It isn't quite a competition among powers; it's a competition of systems, a competition of values," Biden insisted.

China and Russia and other authoritarian powers also seek to shape a new 'international rules of the road' that could be inconsistent with our values and are likely to be inconsistent with our values and antithetical to our interests, especially around economic domains such as trade, data security, intellectual property and energy rights," he added.

Accusing the Russian and Chinese political systems of being based on an "autocratic model," and of using "cutting edge technologies" to "spread disinformation around the globe," Biden charged the countries with "meddling in free societies," and attempting "to sow chaos and influence political outcomes."

Calling on the Transatlantic community to "rally together," Biden stressed that "the fight for the future has already begun, and it's a fight that we have to win. We're at an inflection point in our societies and in world history right now."

Praising the European Union and NATO, Biden went after President Trump for "treating alliances like protection rackets, and questioning our central commitments to one another," which he said was "not only irresponsible, it is incredibly dangerous."
Both the UK and the US were presently facing threats including "phony nationalism, populism and xenophobia," according to the former vice president.

As vice president, Joe Biden consistently urged President Barack Obama to toughen his stance on Russia. Earlier this year, he admitted that Washington had to strong-arm its European partners into imposing economic sanctions on Moscow during the Ukrainian crisis in 2014.

In August, a new poll revealed that Biden might defeat Donald Trump if he ran in 2020. Trump called Biden a "dream" opponent, and noted that Biden had run and lost three times in the past before Obama "took him out of the garbage heap" to serve as his vice president.


13.10.2018 - Moscow proposes NATO to hold talks on avoiding Military Incidents
Moscow Proposes NATO to Hold Talks on Avoiding Military Incidents

Russia has called on NATO member states to hold consultations on prevention of dangerous incidents with attendance by military officials, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Friday.

"We made a proposal on how to move forward in the prevention of dangerous military incidents. In particular, we suggested holding consultations, with the participation of the military, with those states which we have concluded appropriate agreements on the prevention of dangerous military incidents, as well as with those who want to conclude such an agreement," Grushko told reporters.

Only military officials can agree on safe distances which would prevent incidents from occurring, the official noted.

NATO suspended all practical civilian and military cooperation with Russia in response to Moscow's alleged interference in the Ukraine conflict. However, it decided to keep channels of communication open in the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) — the platform established in 2002 to advance bilateral ties — at the ambassadorial level.

The Council's meetings were suspended by the alliance in April 2014 over the situation in Ukraine but the format was revived in 2016. The latest NATO-Russia Council was held in late May in the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

 

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Earlier, NATO's supreme allied commander said that the US military was putting Russia "on notice" by deploying a carrier battle group to Norway for massive alliance drills later this month.

14.10.2018 - Dutch General Accuses Russia of trying to 'Provoke' NATO Marines in Artic
Dutch General Accuses Russia of Trying to 'Provoke' NATO Marines in Arctic

Dutch Marine Corps director of operations Gen Jeff Mac Mootry has accused the Russian military of trying to provoke NATO marines operating in the Arctic Circle.

"What we see is there is an increasing interest of Russian naval vessels when we exercise," he said, speaking to the Telegraph at a briefing in Rotterdam.

"For example, when we do launching exercises as part of our ballistic missile defense program, we see more Russian ships than normally and they come closer to us than in past decades. They clearly want to make their presence visible," Mac Mootry explained.

The Dutch general also complained about Russian fighter planes flying "closer over our warships just to make their presence known, you could almost call it, in a provocative way."

According to Mac Mootry, NATO's encounters with Russian forces near Norway are part of a wider "Cold War 3.0." The senior officer did not specify why the present tensions constitute a "Cold War 3.0" rather than the more traditional description of strained Russia-West relations as a 'Cold War 2.0.'

Approximately 400 British marines have been training with their Dutch counterparts in Norway as part of a joint deployment in the region.

The UK has plans to set up a permanent presence in northern Norway and to send 800 marines and commandos to the country for cold weather training in 2019, with UK Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson recently calling the move a response to Cold War era-like Russian submarine activity. "If we turn back the clock 10 years many people thought that the era of submarine activity in the High North, in the North Atlantic, and the threat that it posed did disappear with the fall of the Berlin Wall. This threat has really come back to the fore," Williamson said, speaking at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month.

The 29 members of NATO plus Finland and Sweden are set to hold drills in and around Norway between October 25 and November 7. The drills, known as Trident Juncture, will be the largest NATO exercises in the region in decades, and will involve some 50,000 troops, with training involving a hypothetical attack on Norway 'from the north'. The United States is set to deploy the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier battle group to the region for the drills, with the US warship becoming the first carrier to enter the Norwegian Sea since 1987. Last week, NATO Secretary General and former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg insisted that Moscow has no reason to consider NATO's drills provocative.

Moscow has expressed concerns about a buildup in NATO strength in the Baltic countries, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria in recent years. Since 1990, NATO has incorporated every one of the former members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact alliance, and expanded into the Baltic states and several former Yugoslav republics as well, despite making promises not to do so in 1990.


10.08.2018 - Twitter Cracks Up as NATO Accuses Russia of 'Build-Up' on Alliance's Borders
Twitter Cracks Up as NATO Accuses Russia of 'Build-Up' on Alliance's Borders

Social media users couldn't help but see the irony in the claim that Moscow was somehow to blame for the alliance moving its armies ever closer to Russia over the decades.

On his official Twitter account, NATO deputy spokesman Piers Cazalet posted a short clip called, "What are today's security challenges?," listing an "assertive" Russia alongside terrorism, cyber attacks, and other potential threats to the alliance. The Russian "challenge," according to the clip, includes "its military build-up close to NATO's borders." The clip is an excerpt from a longer video called: "NATO: What is it, why does it still exist, and how does it work?"

Today, we face a much broader range of threats than in the past.
Watch the video to find out more about today’s security challenges.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1027478338896449537

Russian Twitter users also got in on ridiculing the claims, particularly after being informed of the clip's existence by Russian media.

"Yes, Russia's so dangerous that every year it's moving its territory closer to NATO's," one user joked. "You guys are the ones on our borders, fools!" another insisted. "Yeah right, and NATO is soft and fluffy," a third wrote. "Are they rolling a dice or tossing a coin [to determine who the enemy is]? First it's North Korea, then Iran, then us," another commented.

On Friday, a Spanish Defense Ministry spokesperson told Sputnik that Madrid would not rotate its personnel out of the Baltics after an incident this week involving a Spanish pilot accidentally firing an air-to-air missile during a flight over Estonia not far from the Russian border.

NATO has substantially ramped up its military presence in the Baltic countries, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria following the Western-supported coup d'état in Kiev in 2014, which sparked a civil war in eastern Ukraine, which the alliance has blamed on Russia.

Since 1990, NATO has swallowed up all the former members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact and expanded into the Baltic republics. The former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro have joined, along with Albania, and Macedonia invited to become the alliance's 30th member.

Before the enlargement began, German and US officials made informal guarantees to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand beyond the borders of former East Germany after Germany's unification.

 

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Sputnik has obtained amateur footage of the suspected movement of US military convoys along Czech and Slovak roads, with the quiet transfers receiving no coverage from local or foreign media.

15.10.2018 - WATCH NATO Allegedly try to Move Troops, Armor through Czech Republic, Slovakia (2 short videos)
WATCH NATO Allegedly Try to Move Troops, Armor Through Czech Republic, Slovakia

The videos, one made in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava on October 6, and the other in Stara Boleslav, a small town in the Czech Republic 25 km northeast of Prague on October 7, show police blocking highway traffic to allow for the passage of columns of what appears to be US military equipment, including Humvees and armored personnel carriers.

Unlike the well-known columns of NATO forces which pass through the two countries for exercises in neighboring countries from time to time, last week's transfers did not see any coverage whatsoever from the media.

A Slovak driver who noticed one of the convoys told Sputnik that he was listening to the traffic information radio station at the time:

"The host reported a traffic jam on the highway, but didn't say that the reason was the movement of foreign troops. Instead, he said it was related to road work! They are already lying to us, even in the news about traffic jams!" the driver complained.

Speaking to Sputnik Czech Republic, military analyst Ivan Kratochvil said that the unreported movement of NATO troops has ominous implications.

"From the look of things, a 'military Schengen zone' has been created in Eastern Europe, in line with the idea proposed by former commander of US ground forces in Europe Ben Hodges," the observer suggested. Earlier, Lieut. Gen. Hodges said that NATO allies should be able to move quickly across the continent without receiving permission from allied countries.

The game of democracy has ended," Kratochvil warned. "The movement of foreign troops no longer needs approval from parliament. The fact that the presence of any foreign troops on our territory is perceived negatively thanks to centuries of historical experience is something authorities don't seem to care about. So as the US rolls across our territory, the Czech media total ignore this. Their movement causes traffic jams, because the military police, Czech and Slovak alike, follow them like a motorcade so that nobody passes them or takes pictures, because they are not here officially. And if you report on such a traffic jam to a radio station, you will simply be told that road works are underway on the highway."

"It's a rare sight to see such road repair workers wearing military uniforms, but you can find them in the Czech Republic and Slovakia," Kratochvil sarcastically concluded.

 

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Oct. 16, 2018 - NATO Cyber Command to be fully operational in 2023
NATO cyber command to be fully operational in 2023 | Reuters


FILE PHOTO: Military specialists work during the NATO Cyber Coalition exercise in Tartu, Estonia, November 29, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo

A new NATO military command center to deter computer hackers should be fully staffed in 2023 and able to mount its own cyber attacks but the alliance is still grappling with ground rules for doing so, a senior general said on Tuesday.

While NATO does not have its own cyber weapons, the U.S.-led alliance established an operations center on Aug. 31 at its military hub in Belgium. The United States, Britain, Estonia and other allies have since offered their cyber capabilities.

This is an emerging domain and the threat is growing,” said Major General Wolfgang Renner, a German air force commander who oversees the new cyber operations center, or CYOC, in Mons.

“We have to be prepared, to be able to execute operations in cyberspace. We have already gone beyond protection and prevention,” he told Reuters during a NATO cyber conference.

NATO communication and computer networks face hundreds of significant hacking attempts every month, according to the NATO Communication and Information Agency, while experts say Russia, North Korea and China are constantly deploying sophisticated computer hacking weapons and surveillance software.

Accusations by Western governments this month that Russia waged a global hacking campaign have raised the profile of NATO’s evolving strategy as allied governments look for a response. The European Union on Monday discussed its options, including a special economic sanctions regime to target cyber attackers.

“Our ultimate aim is to be completely aware of our cyberspace, to understand minute-by-minute the state of our networks so that commanders can rely on them,” said Ian West, chief of cyber security at the NATO communication agency.

When fully operational, the cyber center aims to coordinate NATO’s cyber deterrent through a 70-strong team of experts fed with military intelligence and real-time information about hackers ranging from Islamist militants to organized crime groups operating on behalf of hostile governments.

ARTICLE 5 DEBATE
NATO has formally recognized cyberspace as a new frontier in defense, along with land, air and sea, meaning battles could henceforth be waged on computer networks.

The center could potentially use cyber weapons that can knock out enemy missiles or air defenses, or destroy foes’ computer networks if commanders judge such a cyber attack is less harmful to human life than a traditional offensive with live weaponry.

That is now the subject of intense debate at NATO, with alliance commanders saying publicly that cyber will be an integral part of future warfare but allies unclear what would trigger NATO’s Article 5 (collective defense) clause.

“Our concept of operations, a toolbox for short-notice decisions about how to respond, is not in place yet. This is one of the challenges we face,” Renner said.

If NATO can agree cyber warfare principles, the alliance hopes to integrate individual nations’ cyber capabilities into alliance operations, coordinated through the Mons cyber operations center and under the command of NATO’s top general, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, or SACEUR.

That could allow the top general to take quick decisions on whether to use cyber weapons, similar to existing agreements for NATO’s air defenses and its ballistic missile shield, where a commander has only minutes to decide what action to take.

“From my point of view, this is basically possible, but it has to be arranged,” Renner said.

 

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At least three NATO servicemen were injured in an explosion in Afghanistan’s eastern Parwan province, local media reported Wednesday, citing the Resolute Support Mission.

17.10.2018 - At least 3 NATO Soldiers injured in Blast in East Afghanistan - Reports
At Least 3 NATO Soldiers Injured in Blast in East Afghanistan – Reports

The blast was caused by an improvised explosive device that went off in the Bagram district, injuring the NATO patrol, according to the Pajhwok news agency.

In addition, Parwan police chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Mehfooz Walizada told Pajhwok that a suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy near the US military base in Bagram. He added that a NATO tank was destroyed, the attacker was killed, while NATO soldiers remained unharmed.

The Taliban reportedly claimed that the attacker caused casualties among NATO troops.

The NATO’s mission in Afghanistan was launched in 2015. It includes over 13,000 servicemen who are providing training and advice to the Afghan security personnel in their fight against terrorism, particularly against the Taliban radical group.

 

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At least three NATO servicemen were injured in an explosion in Afghanistan’s eastern Parwan province, local media reported Wednesday, citing the Resolute Support Mission.

17.10.2018 - At least 3 NATO Soldiers injured in Blast in East Afghanistan - Reports
At Least 3 NATO Soldiers Injured in Blast in East Afghanistan – Reports

October 17, 2018 - Foreign Soldiers wounded, Civilians killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan
Foreign soldiers wounded, civilians killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan | Reuters

A suicide bomber killed two Afghan civilians and wounded at least three foreign soldiers and two other civilians in an attack near the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Wednesday, government officials said.

Mohammad Mahfouz Walizada, police chief of Parwan province where the Bagram military base is located, said a suicide bomber on foot targeted foreign forces while they were on patrol.

The soldiers’ nationality was not immediately known.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying that members of NATO forces were their main target. NATO was not immediately available for a comment.

Waheda Shahkar, a spokeswoman for Parwan’s governor, confirmed the attack in the Sey Dukan area of Bagram district.

“Two civilians were killed and two others injured,” Shahkar said.

The injured, both women, were taken to the airbase for medical treatment.

Bagram Airfield, close to Kabul, has frequently come under attack by Taliban insurgents who are seeking to reimpose strict Islamic law following their overthrow in 2001 at the hands of U.S.-led troops.

NATO formally ended its combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014 and the security situation has worsened since then.

(Reprinted in Euronews)
Foreign Soldiers wounded, Civilians killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan
Foreign soldiers wounded, civilians killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan

 

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17/10/2018 - NATO exercise: 50,000 personnel take part in Exercise Trident Juncture 2018
NATO exercise: 50,000 personnel take part in Exercise Trident Juncture 2018
https://www.euronews.com/2018/10/17...-exercise-trident-juncture-2018#spotim-widget
Thousands of British forces have crossed the Oresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden.

They're en-route to Norway to take part in the NATO exercise Trident Juncture 2018.

A convoy of 71 Foxhoud, Husky and Land Rover vehicles on its 2,000 km journey from the Hook of Holland to Norway, crossed the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe.

Norway and Iceland serve as hosts in NATO’s largest high visibility exercise since 2015.

They are over 20,000 land forces, 24,000 navy personnel, 3,500 air personnel, around 1,000 logistics specialists and 1,300 personnel from a range of NATO Commands taking part.

In total, fifty thousand NATO personnel and partner countries will be taking part in the exercise and testing their ability to operate together. Thirty nations will be participating together with 150 aircraft, 65 ships and up to 10,000 vehicles.

British Brigadier of the Logistic Support Brigade, Neil Thorpe said “It's a multi-modal deployment where we're using sea, rail, air and road and we're currently focusing on the road move of those UK people and equipment."

He also said the exercise is a good test of moving a large amount of people and supplies, "I think that for any exercise there's always a sort of a logistic challenge but also opportunities and so the exercise here, the opportunity to rehearse, train how we move our people and equipment, particularly with our partners within NATO. So here in Denmark for example, and pushing forward into Sweden and Norway, it's allowed us to sort of refresh our relationships with those partners and ensure we have a smooth movement of our people and equipment north, ahead of the exercise."

The convoy’s move also tested customs, border regulations and the infrastructure’s ability to cope with rapid and heavy troop movements.

The exercise is in two parts. There will be a major Live Exercise (LIVEX), primarily on Norway’s territory but also in Finland and Sweden. Alongside those, there will also be exercises in the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Then the second part will be a separate Computer-Assisted Command Post Exercise (CAX/CPX) which aims to train command and control procedures of NATO Response Force 2019 (NRF19). This will be led by Allied Joint Force Command Naples (JFC Naples).

Published on Oct 17, 2018 (2:00 min.)

 

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Oct. 18, 2018 - Lavrov hopes NATO ‘wise enough’ to prevent third world war
Lavrov hopes NATO ‘wise enough’ to prevent third world war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that he hopes NATO will be wise enough to prevent a large-scale war. However, the risk of unintended incidents has swelled without normal dialogue with Russia, he stressed.

"I believe everyone will be wise enough to prevent that. However, we are certainly very much concerned about the total absence of any professional dialogue between the Russian military and NATO," he said in an interview with RT France, Paris Match and Le Figaro, when asked whether NATO drills in Europe pose a threat of a third world war.

The minister recalled that members of the NATO-Russia Council had met three times over the past two years without any results. According to Russia’s top diplomat, NATO’s representatives were only prepared to discuss Ukraine.

"I am trying to be within the bounds of decency," Lavrov stressed. He went on to say that this just means one thing, "attempts were made to use the NATO-Russia Council as another tool to blame all mortal sins on us, and another way of satisfying the whims of our Ukrainian neighbors who dream of sanctions being endlessly perpetuated and want nothing more than Russia to always be subject to intense criticism," the diplomat specified.

High risks
Lavrov noted that almost all forms of cooperation between Russia and NATO had been frozen, and mere telephone contacts between Chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Curtis Scaparrotti were not enough to eliminate the growing risks of unintended incidents.

"This is not what is required in the current situation when the risk of some unintended incidents significantly increases. A Spanish fighter recently accidentally fired an air-to-air missile in Estonia," he said. "Thank God, it didn’t kill anyone."

"What if it fell on our soil rather than in Estonia?" the minister asked." After all, it was very close."

US role
According to Lavrov, NATO’s refusal to carry on dialogue with Moscow stems from Washington’s influence, which banned the Pentagon’s contacts with Russia as part of its sanctions laws. "It is clear that no one in NATO does anything without the US," he stressed. "So, look at this situation. I believe it is absurd to remain hostage to US legislators’ whims."

"After all, they [the Americans] did find a way of working with us in Syria and continue to do so on the so-call de-confliction to prevent any clashes there," the top Russian diplomat explained.

NATO drills
The next NATO exercise dubbed Trident Juncture will be held in Northern Europe from October 25 to November 7. Around 50,000 troops from 31 countries (29 NATO members, along with Finland and Sweden), over 100 aircraft and dozens of ships will take part in the drills. A US carrier air group, which has arrived in Norway, for the first time since 1989, will also participate in them.


Oct. 18, 2018 - Russia’s top diplomat warns Ukraine won’t be able to hold NATO drills in Azov Sea
Russia’s top diplomat warns Ukraine won’t be able to hold NATO drills in Azov Sea

Owing to a bilateral treaty signed by Kiev and Moscow, Ukraine won’t be able to hold joint NATO drills in the Sea of Azov because this will require Russia’s consent, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with RT France, Paris Match and Figaro on Thursday.

"Now Ukraine wants to hold NATO drills in the Sea of Azov but it will be impossible to go there because our treaty with Ukraine requires mutual consent for the passage of warships into the Sea of Azov," Russia’s top diplomat specified.

"But they want this and they are being actively goaded into this," Lavrov stressed.

NATO is already highly active near the Russian borders, the Russian foreign minister noted.

"[We are witnessing] an arms build-up on our borders along with the drive to upgrade the transport infrastructure in Europe so that it can be easier for US heavy armaments and, perhaps, the armaments of other NATO countries to choose our borders; [in addition to] blatantly provocative drills - not ours with China in Siberia - but military exercises in Ukraine, Georgia and in the Black Sea," Russia’s top diplomat emphasized.

Ukraine has been actively holding military drills with NATO on its soil since 2014. The Clean Sky-2018 aviation drills are running in the Khmelnitskaya Region in Ukraine from October 8-19 with the participation of the air forces from Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and the United States.

Also, Kiev has been lately laying its claims to the Sea of Azov where military activity is regulated by an agreement with Russia. Exercises by the Ukrainian armed forces were held on the coast of the Sea of Azov in October.