Contents tagged with NATO

  • NATO urges Russia to withdraw troops from Ukraine

    NATO has expressed its concern regarding the escalation in the Donbas and urged Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, the Ukrainian Mission to NATO wrote on Facebook.

    “We are concerned by the escalation of violence by the Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine this morning. This undermines the Minsk agreements and the efforts towards a peaceful conflict resolution,” said NATO Spokesperson Oana Lungescu.

    NATO also affirmed its full support of the territorial integrity and …

  • Kremlin names three conditions for improving relations with Europe

    Russia is “carefully analyzing” French President Emmanuel Macron’s offer to improve dialog with Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, as cited by RBC news agency. The deputy minister remarked that Russia “is appraising the situation on the basis of reality”, and understands that, in order to bring about systemic changes to the status quo, Europe needs to take concrete steps towards cooperation.

    According to Grushko, …

  • Kyiv urges NATO to consider Ukraine’s request to join Enhanced Opportunity Program

    Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodniuk is convinced that Ukraine meets the criteria for joining NATO’s Enhanced Opportunities Partnership program, and has urged NATO to consider and endorse this decision.

    “Our NATO partners know that joining the Enhanced Opportunity Partnership Program is an absolute priority for Ukraine. Ukraine has made significant progress implementing alliance standards and already meets the military criteria for joining the program. We are ready, and there is now a …

  • Russia promises to respond to NATO’s largest military drills in Europe

    Russia will respond to NATO’s Defender 2020 exercise in Europe, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as cited by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

    According to him, the alliance’s European exercises are “greatly concerning” to Smolenskaya Square in Moscow, and Russia cannot ignore them.

    “In the context of NATO’s cooperation with the EU in the military sphere, they invented the term ‘Military Schengen’, which envisages the upgrading of all transport arteries up to NATO’s eastern border in such a way …

  • Ukraine willing to send 20 soldiers to Iraq for NATO mission

    Ukraine has informed NATO that it is willing to partner with the alliance in Iraq, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Dmytro Kuleba said during a meeting with NATO Assistant Secretary General for Operations John Manza at the NATO headquarters.

    “I informed the assistant secretary general that Ukraine has a plan to send 20 soldiers to support the NATO mission in Iraq once the alliance resumes its operation. The invitation to become an operation partner for …

  • Lukashenko: NATO will not allow Russia to violate Belarus’s sovereignty

    Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is convinced that the West and NATO would respond accordingly if Russia tried to violate the sovereignty of Belarus.

    “Classic threats to sovereignty always exist, even for Russia. But I do not feel like the threat to Belarus’s sovereignty is growing. If this threat from Russia, as some people say, arises, and suddenly it tries to violate our sovereignty, you know what the reaction of not only the global community will be – they will get drawn into the …

  • Belarus and NATO discuss joint military exercises

    The Belarusian Defense Ministry has reported about the talks with NATO on holding joint exercises next year.

    TASS reports that the parties are discussing the joint "peacekeeping exercises"  as part of the Belarusian military training in the Italian NATO contingent.

    It is expected that the Belarusian unit will be part of the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon.

    "Speaking about conducting joint exercises with NATO, we are not talking about preparation yet, but about the negotiation process, …

  • Ukraine intends to purchase American AH-64 Apache attack helicopters

    The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced its intention to upgrade the fleet of the Ukrainian Air Forces by purchasing American attack helicopters Boeing AH-64 Apache, reports Ukrainian military news website Ukrainian Military Pages.

    Ukrainian officials believe that the existing gaps in the capabilities of the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian defense industry can be eliminated by purchasing modern Western-made weapons. Therefore, in addition to the AH-64 Apache helicopters, it is proposed to …

  • Kremlin: NATO is preparing for large-scale conflict with Russia

    NATO is preparing for a large-scale military conflict on its eastern borders, said Valery Gerasimov, Chief of Russia’s General Staff.

    According to the Russian general, this is indicated by the military exercises in Europe and the redeployment of alliance troops in the east.

    Russia is designated an enemy in NATO countries’ military doctrine, Gerasimov noted at a briefing for foreign military attachés.

    During the NATO summit in December, the bloc confirmed that it is trying to learn how to …

  • NATO: Russia increased its presence in Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic

    Ten Russian submarines were spotted simultaneously in the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic, said the NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu, as cited by RND.

    "Russia is constantly increasing its underwater capacity," Lungescu said.

    She pointed out that the activity of Russian submarines this year has reached the highest level since the end of the Cold War.

    "NATO will respond to this, in particular, with more patrols. In addition, NATO will invest in modern anti-submarine aerial combat …