Contents tagged with NATO

  • Polish President Duda urges Europe not to ignore threat from Russia

    Polish President Andrzej Duda called for solidarity in putting pressure on the Russian Federation to protect the Central-Eastern region of Europe, reports Polish radio.

    During a meeting with leaders of the Arraiolos group in Greece, Duda warned the European Union against ignoring the threat from Russia and called for solidarity in the fight against Russian aggression.

    "Countries that are located in the immediate reach of Russian ballistic missiles can say a lot about how dangerous Russia is," …

  • Putin: Russia is 'calm' about NATO military exercises near its borders

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is "calm," answering the question of how Moscow intends to respond to NATO exercises near Russian borders. According to Putin, Russia does not welcome "attempts to escalate" the tension at its border, but Moscow's reaction will be calm, reports the Kremlin's press service. During a meeting at the Council of Heads of  the CIS courties in Ashgabat, Putin also said that Moscow will still speak with NATO on this issue.

    Putin recalled that Russia …

  • US transfers strategic bombers to Europe

    The US has transferred a group of B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers to the Fairford Air Base in England, AirForce Times reports, citing the US Air Force Command in Europe. The bombers can carry nuclear bombs and cruise missiles

    Four B-52H Stratofortresses landed at the Royal Air Force base on Thursday after flying over the Atlantic from the Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

    The deployment has been overseen by the Global Strike Command, which aims to “practice operating in the region …

  • US to lead largest military exercise in 25 years in Europe

    At the start of next year, the US will dispatch three tank brigades and thousands of other types of troops to Europe to participate in the largest US-led military exercise on the continent in the last 25 years, writes Stars and Stripes, the US Defense Department newspaper.

    The press service of the United States European Command (EUCOM) announced that the Defender Europe 2020 exercises will be held in Europe next year. The drills will be conducted in ten countries, but primarily in Germany and …

  • US to deploy military division to Eastern Europe

    The US Armed Forces plan to deploy one of its divisions through Germany to Eastern Europe as part of the Defender-2020 military exercise, reads the statement from the German Defense Ministry to the representatives of parliamentary factions in the German Bundestag’s Defense Committee.

    It is noted that Germany will become a logistics hub during the transfer of American troops to Poland and the Baltic States.

    US, Germany and 15 other NATO members will participate in Defender-2020 military …

  • NATO rejects Russia’s proposed moratorium on intermediate and short range missiles

    NATO has rejected Russia’s proposal that a moratorium be put on the deployment of intermediate and short-ranged missiles, because Moscow’s initiative is “untrustworthy”, Alliance spokesperson Oana Lungescu told Deutsche Welle.

    She pointed out that Russia has already deployed SSC-8 missiles (9M729 in Russian classification) in its own territory.

    “Before negotiations, they need to destroy these missiles in a verifiable way,” the NATO representative emphasized.

    Kommersant reported previously …

  • US to deploy tank battalion in Lithuania

    In October the US will be deploying a tank battalion in Lithuania at a training ground several kilometers from the Belarusian border, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry announced in a post on its website.

    The battalion in question is from the 9th regiment of the 1st division of the US army, and it will be deployed at a military training ground near the Lithuanian city of Pabrade, roughly 10 km from the border with Belarus. Around 500 US army personnel, 30 M1 Abrams tanks, 25 M2 Bradley fighting …

  • Belgian fighter jets intercept Russian Tu-160 bombers over Baltics

    Belgian fighter jets intercepted two Russian TU-160 strategic bombers and two Russian SU-27 fighers over the Baltics on Tuesday, September 18, reported the Belgian Air force.

    “Two Belgian Air force F16 of NATO's BAP mission intercepted two Russian TU-160 Blackjack and two Russian SU-27 Flanker above the Baltic Sea. It was the first scramble for the Belgian detachment which is safeguarding the Baltic airspace since the 3th of September,” reads the message of the Belgian Air Force on Twitter.

    A …

  • Turkey receives second battery of S-400 missile systems from Russia

    Turkey received all components of the second battery of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, reports the press service of the Turkish Defense Ministry. The equipment was delivered to Mürted Airfield Command in Ankara on August 27.

    Works on the installation of the system and training of personnel are continuing. The system should be operational by April 2020.

    In 2017, Turkey and Russia signed a contract for the supply of four S-400 missile systems with a total cost of $2.5 billion. The …

  • Russia: The risk of unintentional nuclear war is real

    The collapse of the Russian-American nuclear arms control system makes nuclear war a real threat, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov on Thursday.

    The Russian politician asserts that it is exclusively western countries that are to blame for breaching the bilateral nuclear arms reduction treaties and creating the threat of an exchange of nuclear attacks. The West’s policy of “scrapping” the mechanisms that were developed over decades is “deliberate”, he says.

    “The negative …