Radio România Internațional

Tag: collective defense

  • How has NATO’s strategy for Europe evolved over 2022-2024?

    How has NATO’s strategy for Europe evolved over 2022-2024?

    On the sidelines of the 75th anniversary summit in Washington, NATO leaders pledged to strengthen collective defense, highlighting the substantial progress reported on defense spending, forward defense, high-readiness forces, command and control, collective defense exercises.

     

    The ongoing conclift in Ukraine, with its specific challenges for the Eastern Flank and the Black Sea region, has determined NATO allies and partners to continuously adapt the Alliance’s strategy for Europe. Today’s edition offers some precious insight shared by General David Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and commander of US Forces Afghanistan.

     

  • Ukraine and NATO’s eastern flank

    Ukraine and NATO’s eastern flank

    Romania’s president, Klaus Ioahnnis, has summoned the
    country’s Supreme Defense Council on Wednesday. The security of the extended
    Black Sea region and NATO’s eastern flank, as well as measures to develop the
    capacity of response to the new security challenges rank high on Wednesday’s
    agenda. Romania has northern and southeastern borders with Ukraine and hosts
    elements of NATO’s anti-ballistic missile shield in Deveselu. Moscow has called
    on NATO to deny Ukraine access to the Alliance. Although it denies any plan to
    invade Ukraine, the Russian Federation has rallied some 100 thousand troops and
    military technology on the Ukrainian border. In response, NATO says every
    country is free to make its own decisions as it sees fit, without any external
    interference. Russia further called on NATO to withdraw its military technology
    from states that joined NATO after 1997, which includes Romania.

    Although it
    was given repeated assurances, including recently in Bucharest as well as the
    NATO headquarters in Brussels, regarding the strictly defensive purpose of the
    shield in Deveselu, Moscow remains adamant. In this context, Foreign Minister,
    Bogdan Aurescu, has reiterated at the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers held in
    Brussels that the EU should closely consult with the US so as to accelerate the
    preparation of sectorial and individual sanctions against Russia. The sanctions
    serve both as deterrence and in order to prepare an adequate response in case
    of a further escalation of tensions. The Romanian official has called for organizing
    a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Ministers in Kiev, as an expression of solidarity
    with Ukraine. Bogdan Aurescu expressed gratitude to president Joe Biden for his
    announcement regarding the increase of America’s military presence on NATO’s
    eastern flank, including in Romania, as the security context continues to
    deteriorate. The process of consolidating NATO’s posture on its eastern flank
    needs to take place as soon as possible, serving as an important deterrent,
    Minister Aurescu pointed out.

    NATO published a release announcing that member
    states have deployed troops on standby and have dispatched warships and fighter
    jets to strengthen collective defense in Eastern Europe in the face of Russia’s
    military maneuvers on the Ukrainian border. The Kremlin has referred to what it
    has called the exacerbation of tensions with hysteria and lies. The alliance
    has recalled that, since the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014,
    NATO has consolidated its presence on the eastern flank of the Alliance, in
    particular with four multinational tactical groups in Estonia, Latvia,
    Lithuania and Poland. These units are combat-ready, NATO warning that an
    attack on any ally will be considered an attack on the Alliance as a whole.
    (VP)



  • Bucharest and the NATO Strategy

    Bucharest and the NATO Strategy

    Not far from the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed last year by Moscow, Romanian and Portuguese air forces take part in joint patrol missions, including over the Black Sea. Four Portuguese F-16 fighter jets are already crossing the Romanian air space, in missions co-ordinated by the NATO Air Command based in Ramstein, Germany. Alliance officials have explained that the participation of Portuguese troops in these missions is part of the NATO measures aimed at guaranteeing the security of its eastern members, precisely against the backdrop of tensions with Russia.



    In the USA, Admiral James Winnefeld, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has announced the missile defence shield is soon to be operational. The system is designed to protect, among others, the southern NATO borders. In turn, the Romanian Defence Minister Mircea Dusa said the anti-missile shield components in Deveselu, southern Romania, would become operational this autumn, as scheduled.



    Concurrently with the military moves, the West carries on its diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions in the region. NATO has once again urged Russia to pull out all troops and heavy weapons from eastern Ukraine. In a meeting in Brussels between the NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, the former called for more transparency in the many operations conducted this year by Russian troops. Previously, NATO had announced that Brussels opened telephone lines for emergency communication with Russia. This is, according to analysts, a step towards rebuilding the ties that had been loosened last year in the context of the Ukrainian crisis.



    Also taking part in the meeting in Brussels was the chief of staff of the Republic of Moldova, Gen. Igor Gorgan, who attended the meetings of the EU Military Committee and the NATO Military Committee and had talks with his Romanian and Ukrainian counterparts, Nicolae Ciuca and Viktor Mujenko respectively. Located between Romania and Ukraine, and facing its own pro-Russian breakaway tendencies in Transdniester, in the east, the Republic of Moldova looks to the West for security guarantees.



    In Tuesdays talks in Bucharest with his Moldovan counterpart Viorel Cibotaru, the Defence Minister Mircea Dusa reiterated Romanias willingness to provide technical and material assistance to strengthen Moldovas defence capabilities. Romania is therefore determined to act not only as a beneficiary, but also as a provider of security for a neighbouring country with which it has close ties and for whose EU accession it has always pleaded.