Daily Archives: December 17, 2014

NATO Secretary General - 10th Anniversary Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, 11 DEC 2014
Keynote address by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the North Atlantic Council ICI seminar celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, Doha, Qatar,...

By: NATO

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NATO Secretary General - 10th Anniversary Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, 11 DEC 2014 - Video

NATO Secretary General - 10th Anniversary Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, Closing, 11 DEC 2014
Closing remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the North Atlantic Council ICI seminar celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Istanbul Coope...

By: NATO

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NATO Secretary General - 10th Anniversary Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, Closing, 11 DEC 2014 - Video

Russian Bear Back: Is NATO Ready?
Russian Bear Back: Is NATO Ready?

By: CBN News

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Russian Bear Back: Is NATO Ready? - Video

NATO Secretary General with Prime Minister of Ukraine, 15 DEC 2014
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the joint press point with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyu, 15 December 2014.

By: NATO

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NATO Secretary General with Prime Minister of Ukraine, 15 DEC 2014 - Video

Russia's air force commander on Tuesday accused the United States and its NATO allies of provoking confrontation over the Baltic Sea by sending spy planes near the Russian border "practically every day."

In apparent response to accusations from NATO military officials that a Russian jet flying a stealth mission nearly caused a collision with an SAS commercial jet last week, Russian Air Force commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said at a news briefing in Moscow that the Western alliance has "massively" stepped up aerial surveillance of Russia's air defense capabilities.

"In 2014, the number of flights by reconnaissance aircraft of the United States and NATO countries over territories of the Baltic countries, the Baltic and Barents seas has increased considerably, Bondarev said, estimating that NATO typically conducts eight to 12 such flights a week.

"Strategic reconnaissance aircraft RC-135 of the U.S. Air Force perform flights practically every day," the Tass news agency quoted Bondarev as saying. He put the number of RC-135 flights in the vicinity of Russian borders at 140 so far this year, compared with 22 in 2013.

As relations between the former Cold War adversaries have plunged into a new phase of distrust over Kremlin aggression against Ukraine, Russian and NATO surveillance aircraft have taken to the skies in rival shows of force over the Baltic region, which was under Soviet domination for most of the previous century.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union at the advent of World War II, but have spun into the Western security orbit since breaking free of Moscow's control amid the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. All three former Soviet Baltic republics are now part of the 28-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as are Baltic Sea littoral states Poland and what was Communist East Germany during the Cold War era.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has loudly opposed the encroachment of NATO into Eastern Europe regions he considers to be Russia's traditional sphere of influence. His armed forces seized Ukraine's Crimea region in February after a pro-Europe rebellion in the former Soviet republic to Russia's southeast toppled Kremlin-allied President Viktor Yanukovich.

Putin is also accused by the new Ukrainian leadership and its Western allies of sending arms and fighters to bolster the separatist movement that has wrested key areas of eastern Ukraine from the Kiev government's control.

At his news briefing, Bondarev said NATO had also deployed AWACS -- airborne warning and control system -- aircraft on missions to survey areas in the Black Sea, Ukraine and western Russia. Those aircraft, as well as Swedish Gulfstream reconnaissance planes, German Orion P-3Cs, Danish Challengers and Portuguese Orions, have been collecting intelligence on Russian armed forces in the Kaliningrad exclave and in Baltic waters, the Russian Tass news agency said.

Bondarev's claims appeared to be in response to mounting accusations from NATO countries that Russian aerial operations are posing a threat to the safety of civilian aircraft.

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Russia accuses NATO of aerial spying 'practically every day'

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NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the Alliance suspends "all practical cooperation with Russia" in protest at its annexation of Crimea.

Brussels: NATO's foreign ministers ordered an end to civilian and military cooperation with Russia and told their generals and admirals to quickly figure out ways to better protect alliance members that feel threatened by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin.

The 28-member alliance, the keystone of US and European security since the end of World War II, was reacting to its most serious crisis in years: Russia's unilateral annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which the US and its allies have condemned as an illegal land grab.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia (left) before a NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Photo: Reuters

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NATO ends cooperation with Russia

Source: Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Serbia's cooperation with NATO over the past ten years did much for the area of security sector reforms, as well as in increasing military interoperability.

This is what participants of a gathering dubbed "Belgrade NATO Week" have said, adding that Serbia's membership in the military alliance would also contribute to improving regional relations and bring a greater degree of democracy and the rule of law, as well as improve "the quality of life in our country."

According to U.S. embassy in Belgrade political counselor Cherrie Daniels, Serbia's official orientation towards the European Union and its path towards European integration have great significance when it comes to security sector reforms, and development of military interoperability between Serbia and its partners in the EU.

"As Serbia progress towards the EU, it will be very important to complete the process of the reform of the security sector and to establish sustainable and transparent institutions," said Daniels, adding that Serbia made much progress over the past ten years.

She said Serbia's priority was to implement the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which would "raise to a higher level Serbia's relations with NATO."

"IPAP will identify ways in which NATO can help Serbia, and it will expand relations from the military to the political level, at the same time creating a framework for cooperation in other fields. This is an important aspect for Serbia because it will provide an opportunity for sustainable reform of the security sector, which is crucial in the process of Serbia's EU accession," said Daniels.

Increasing military interoperability of the Serbian Army is another benefit of EU integrations, explained Daniels, underlining that joint training of Serbian soldiers with EU partners and the harmonization of standards in the defense sector will allow the country to strengthen its national security, be ready to react in emergency situations, and effectively participate in peacekeeping missions and multinational operations.

Noting that Serbia is the only country in the region that does not want to become a member of NATO, executive director of the Atlantic Council of Serbia Milovan Milosevic said he believed that much more than military cooperation is gained through membership.

"NATO is not only a military force, it is a set of values that those countries stand for, like democracy or human rights protection. Also, NATO member states receive more foreign direct investments. In Lithuania, foreign direct investments increased by 167 percent in the first year after it became a member of NATO, while those in Bulgaria increased by 97 percent, "said Milosevic.

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"NATO membership would improve quality of life"