NATO
NATO Foreign Ministers met on Tuesday (1 June 2021) in order to prepare for the NATO Summit on 14 June. “Ministers addressed a range of issues including Afghanistan, Belarus, Russia and China; and overall, the need for NATO to adapt to a new era of growing global competition,” said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “We are presented with a number of challenges to our security that we need to tackle together, because no country and no continent can deal with them alone. Against this background, Ministers addressed the NATO 2030 agenda on how to continue to adapt NATO for the future.”
Mr Stoltenberg outlined that the ministers’ discussions covered ways to strengthen NATO as the unique and indispensable forum for transatlantic security cooperation, and efforts to boost collective defence, reaffirm the 2014 defence investment pledge, and fully implement all decisions to strengthen NATO’s posture. Ministers also addressed the importance of resilience, and of taking a
First, it is the biggest attack on the country in its history.
Second, it is the most violent breach of the sovereignty of the EU and NATO members since the end of the Cold War.
In 2014, agents of the Russian military intelligence services GRU caused a massive explosion of 58 tons of ammunition in the Vrbětice ammunition depot area, killing two Czech citizens, threatening the safety of hundreds of people in the nearby villages, and causing damages in tens of millions of euros.
Arms and ammunition at the depot were destined for either Ukrainian forces fighting pro-Russian rebels or for rebels in Syria fighting the Russian-backed government.
She also expressed hope that Russia would take part in the multilateral online summit on climate change, which the United States plans to organize on April 22-23
Analysts say full membership is highly unlikely for Ukraine in the near term, although there are signs NATO may increase its presence in the region to counter the new Russian aggressiveness. In the interim, the Biden administration is faced with deciding how aggressively to respond to Mr. Putin’s probing.
“The Kremlin is testing Biden in a couple of places right now. That’s what the Kremlin does. It tests new presidents,” said Donald Jensen, a member of the Russia and Strategic Stability project at the United States Institute of Peace.
“It’s not because Biden has been weak,” Mr. Jensen, a former U.S. diplomat and longtime specialist on Russian domestic politics, said in an interview. The Russian moves are, at least in part, a response to Mr. Biden’s own aggressive signaling toward the Kremlin and Mr. Putin, personally, in his first weeks in office.
Britain to reduce size of army to tackle threats of the future reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.