News compilation by New Cold War.org, Oct 26, 2016
NATO is in the midst of a two-day meeting in Brussels of defense ministers of the military alliance’s member countries. Today, the meeting announced decisions to escalate NATO’s threatening military posture by land, sea and air against Russia. The escalations will take place in the Baltic and Black seas, and along Russia’s borders with the Baltic states and Poland.
Enclosed are four news article detailing the NATO decisions. Its meeting in Brussels continues tomorrow, October 27.
NATO pushes military buildup plans along Russia’s western border
Press TV (Iran), Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is pushing for its biggest military buildup near Russian borders, as the Western military alliance continues to harbor perceptions of a Russian “threat” since the days of the Cold War.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will discuss the plan for military deployments to the Baltic states and eastern Poland at a two-day meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels beginning Wednesday.
The military alliance aims to send “battle groups” to the Baltic states and Poland early next year. The groups will consist of 40,000 forces. It will be the biggest military buildup near Russia since the Second World War. More forces would also be deployed if necessary.
“This is credible deterrence. Not to provoke a conflict, but to prevent conflict,” Stoltenberg claimed contradictorily on Tuesday, referring to the planned deployments near Russia. “Concrete proof that NATO can and will deploy thousands of forces to support our allies. And a clear demonstration of our transatlantic bond.”
The United States, Germany, Britain, and Canada have already agreed to contribute forces to the “battle groups,” which are to be deployed to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. France, Denmark, Italy and other NATO members are expected to contribute forces of their own but have been reluctant so far.
Anti-Russia by default
Russia had previously warned that it would take unspecified measures to respond to the increased activities by the Western military bloc. Earlier this month, it moved nuclear-capable missiles to its westernmost region of Kaliningrad, near its border with the Baltic countries and other NATO member states. The Iskander-M cruise missiles are capable of hitting targets across Poland and the Baltics.
NATO was formed during the Cold War as a means of countering the former Soviet Union. The military alliance suspended all ties with Moscow in April 2014, after the then-Ukrainian Crimea Peninsula voted in a referendum to join the Russian federation.
Shortly afterwards, an armed conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine, areas inhabited by an ethnically-Russian population. The Ukrainian government, which militarized the originally peaceful unrest in the regions — known as the Donbass — has ever since been accusing Russia of having a hand in the conflict there. Moscow denies the claim.
The conflict has so far claimed the lives of more than 9,200 people and left over 21,000 others injured.
Six NATO nations eager to increase Black Sea presence
The U.S., Turkey and Poland are among the NATO member states confirming their readiness to dispatch naval units to the Black Sea in 2017, boosting the alliance’s presence in the region, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg noted “progress” in in strengthening NATO’s presence in the Black Sea Region in his statement after the meeting of the block’s defense ministers in Brussels on October 26. “With a Romania-led multinational framework brigade on land and we’re working on measures in the air and at sea,” he said.
According to the Secretary General, several member-states “indicated their willingness to contribute to our presence in the Black Sea region on land, at sea and in the air, including Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and the U.S.”
“Other allies are also looking into how they can contribute,” he added.
The plans on enhancing Black Sea presence will be finalized during another meeting on NATO ministers in February.
Following Crimea’s reunification with Russia, NATO has been increasingly concerned about the Black Sea is turning into a “Russian lake.”
Since the spring of 2014, NATO warships, including missile cruisers from the U.S. and other allied nations, have been patrolling the Black Sea on a rotational basis, never leaving the area unattended.
NATO decided at a summit in Warsaw in July to increase its presence in the Black Sea, calling the decision a response to Russia’s increasing military capabilities and is a gesture of support to NATO’s Eastern European members.
The military beef-up in the region is expected lead to the creation of a NATO Black Sea Fleet to be formed by member-states with direct access to the sea.
Stoltenberg also said that 17 NATO countries will delegate their units to join the four multinational ground battalions to be deployed in Poland and the Baltic states early next year. The battalions will be led by the US, UK, Canada and Germany, while the countries sending their forces included France, Poland, Albania, Romania, Croatia and others.
The Secretary General stressed that NATO was monitoring the movement of Russian vessels in the Baltic Sea. “I can confirm that two Russian warships have recently entered the Baltic Sea, and NATO is monitoring this movement in the way we always do,” he said.
However, Stoltenberg stressed that, despite its buildup in Eastern Europe, the alliance is ready for dialogue with Moscow. “We are concerned about Russia’s behavior. Bur dialogue is even more important when tensions run high. And allies stand ready to hold an ambassadorial meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in the near future,” he said.
Britain, U.S. sending planes, troops to deter Russia in the east
By Robin Emmott and Phil Stewart, Reuters, Oct 26, 2016
BRUSSELS – Britain said on Wednesday it will send fighter jets to Romania next year and the United States promised troops, tanks and artillery to Poland in NATO’s biggest military build-up on Russia’s borders since the Cold War.
Germany, Canada and other NATO allies also pledged forces at a defense ministers meeting in Brussels on the same day two Russian warships armed with cruise missiles entered the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Denmark, underscoring East-West tensions.
In Madrid, the foreign ministry said Russia had withdrawn a request to refuel three warships in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta after NATO allies said they could be used to target civilians in Syria.
The ships were part of an eight-ship carrier battle group – including Russia’s sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov – that is expected to join around 10 other Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast, diplomats said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the troop contributions to a new 4,000-strong force in the Baltic region and eastern Europe were a measured response to what the alliance believes are some 330,000 Russian troops stationed on Russia’s western flank near Moscow.
“This month alone, Russia has deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad and suspended a weapons-grade plutonium agreement with the United States,” Stoltenberg said, also accusing Russia of continued support for rebels in Ukraine.
Those ballistic missiles can hit targets across Poland and the Baltics, although NATO officials declined to say if Russia had moved nuclear warheads to Kaliningrad.
NATO’s aim is to make good on a July promise by NATO leaders to deter Russia in Europe’s ex-Soviet states, after Moscow orchestrated the annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014.
NATO’s plan is to set up four battle groups with a total of some 4,000 troops from early next year, backed by a 40,000-strong rapid-reaction force, and if need be, follow-on forces.
As part of that, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced a “battle-ready battalion task force” of about 900 soldiers would be sent to eastern Poland, as well as another, separate force equipped with tanks and other heavy equipment to move across eastern Europe.
“It’s a major sign of the U.S. commitment to strengthening deterrence here,” Carter said.
Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Britain would send an 800-strong battalion to Estonia, supported by French and Danish troops, starting from May. The United States wants its troops in position by June.
London is also sending Typhoon fighter aircraft to Romania to patrol around the Black Sea, partly in support of Turkey. “Although we are leaving the European Union, we will be doing more to help secure the eastern and southern flanks of NATO,” Fallon said.
Syrian shadow
Other NATO allies joined the four battle groups led by the United States, Germany, Britain and Canada to go to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Canada said it was sending 450 troops to Latvia, joined by 140 military personnel from Italy.
Germany said it was sending between 400 and 600 troops to Lithuania, with additional forces from the Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Croatia and Luxembourg.
Stoltenberg said allies’ commitments would be “a clear demonstration of our transatlantic bond.” Diplomats said it would also send a message to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has complained that European allies do not pay their way in the alliance.
For the Kremlin, the U.S.-led alliance’s plans are already too much given Russia’s grievances at NATO’s expansion eastwards, although Stoltenberg denied going too far.
NATO’s troop announcements in the Baltic states and Poland were partly overshadowed by the dispute about whether Spain should refuel the Russian warships, which was later resolved by Moscow’s decision to withdraw its request.
NATO’s tensions with Russia have been building since Crimea and the West’s decision to impose retaliatory sanctions. But the breakdown of a U.S.-Russia brokered ceasefire in Syria on Oct. 3, followed by U.S. accusations that Russia has used cyber attacks to disrupt the presidential election, have signaled a worsening of ties.
Even before the break down of the Syrian ceasefire, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a treaty with Washington on cleaning up weapons-grade plutonium, signaling he was willing to use nuclear disarmament as a new bargaining chip in disputes with the United States over Ukraine and Syria.
Russia beefs up Baltic Fleet amid NATO tensions: reports
MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM – Russia is sharply upgrading the firepower of its Baltic Fleet by adding warships armed with long-range cruise missiles to counter NATO’s build-up in the region, Russian media reported on Wednesday.
There was no official confirmation from Moscow, but the reports will raise tensions in the Baltic, already heightened since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, and cause particular alarm in Poland and Lithuania which border Russia’s base there.
The reported deployment comes as NATO is planning its biggest military build-up on Russia’s borders since the Cold War to deter possible Russian aggression.
Russia’s daily Izvestia newspaper cited a military source as saying that the first two of five ships, the Serpukhov and the Zeleny Dol, had already entered the Baltic Sea and would soon become part of a newly formed division in Kaliningrad, Russia’s European exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.
Another source familiar with the situation told the Interfax news agency that the two warships would be joining the Baltic Fleet in the coming days.
“With the appearance of two small missile ships armed with the Kalibr cruise missiles the Fleet’s potential targeting range will be significantly expanded in the northern European military theater,” the source told Interfax.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, which said earlier this month the two ships were en route to the Mediterranean, did not respond to a request for comment, but NATO and the Swedish military confirmed the two warships had entered the Baltic. “NATO navies are monitoring this activity near our borders,” said Dylan White, the alliance’s acting spokesman.
The Buyan-M class corvettes are armed with nuclear-capable Kalibr cruise missiles, known by the NATO code name Sizzler, which the Russian military says have a range of at least 1,500 km (930 miles). Though variants of the missile are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the ships are believed to be carrying conventional warheads.
“The addition of Kalibr missiles would increase the strike range not just of the Baltic Fleet, but of Russian forces in the Baltic region, fivefold,” said Ben Nimmo, a defense analyst at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, who has been tracking the ships’ progress. “The two small corvettes, with their modern, nuclear-capable missiles, may yet have an impact out of proportion to their size in the Baltic.”
Sweden, Poland worried
Izvestia said Russia’s Baltic Fleet would probably receive a further three such small warships armed with the same missiles by the end of 2020. It said the Baltic Fleet’s coastal defenses would also be beefed up with the Bastion and Bal land-based missile systems. The Bastion is a mobile defense system armed with two anti-ship missiles with a range of up to 300 km (188 miles). The Bal anti-ship missile has a similar range.
Sweden’s Defence Minister said his country was worried by the presence of the warships in the Baltic Sea, complaining the move was likely to keep tension in the region high. “This is … worrying and is not something that helps to reduce tensions in our region,” Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told Sweden’s national TT news agency. “This affects all the countries around the Baltic.”
Swedish media said the Kalibr missiles had the range to hit targets across the Nordic region. The Russian Defence Ministry said in August that the two corvettes had been used to fire cruise missiles at militants in Syria.
Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz, in Brussels for a NATO meeting, called the deployment “an obvious cause for concern,” the PAP news agency reported. “Moving such ships into the Baltic changes the balance of power,” he said.
Earlier this month, Russia moved nuclear-capable Iskander-M missiles into Kaliningrad leading to protests from Lithuania and Poland.
