NATO deploys military forces in Eastern Europe

Ap, Spuntik and Afp

Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday February 26, 2022, p. 3

Brussels. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will send response force units to protect allies in Eastern Europe from a possible invasion by Russia, US President Joe Biden and his peers from the transatlantic mechanism decided yesterday during an extraordinary virtual summit.

Our commitment to Article 5 (of NATO) is strong. I have ordered the deployment of additional troops to increase our capabilities in Europe in support of our NATO alliesBiden commented from the White House Situation Room. During his intervention, he celebrated the decision to activate NATO’s defense plans to strengthen the collective posture of the alliance.

Later, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki reiterated that Washington will not deploy troops on Ukrainian soil as it does not want a war with Russia.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained that the allies activated their defense plans and ground, sea and air elements of the response force are being deployed. This means putting thousands of supplementary troops and about 100 planes in 30 different positions on high alert, he added.

We deployed for the first time the response force in the name of collective defense, to prevent excesses against alliance territorieshe detailed at the end of the summit from Brussels.

The response force can count on up to 40,000 troops to deploy to any scenario within five days and for a maximum of 30, but Stoltenberg said not all of it will be deployed. Parts of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) group, which has 8,000 members and is currently led by France, will also be sent.

Russia has launched a total invasion against Ukraine with the clear objective of reaching Kiev and ending the governmentnoted the NATO chief, warning: But the Kremlin’s goals are not limited to Ukraine.. He recalled that “Putin has demanded the withdrawal of the alliance forces from the territory of those countries that joined after 1997.

The answer is to strengthen the Allies’ defensive and deterrent posture. The alliance activated its defense plans on Thursday and is deploying the elements of its response forcead.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said he is ready to send 3,400 soldiers to NATO countries and German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht reported that her government will provide more soldiers and weapons systems to protect its partners.

Meanwhile, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, considered it useful leave the way open to an eventual dialogue with Putin so that this crisis begins to diminish, in addition, he offered help to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymir Zelensky.

The security of President Zelensky is a central element of what is happening nowFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stressed in an interview with public broadcaster France Inter, when Russia intensified its offensive against Ukraine, especially in its capital, Kiev, where shots and explosions were reported.

For Le Drian, Putin wants to erase Ukraine from the “map of states” and warned that the ongoing Russian operation could extend to the next Moldova and Georgia.

The spokesman for US diplomacy, Ned Price, commented that Russia’s offer to hold negotiations with Ukraine is not very serious. We see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy be conducted at gunpoint, when bombs, mortar fire and Moscow artillery are aimed at civilianshe indicated.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia is ready to negotiate with Ukraine if the country, under Russian invasion, lay down arms.

In response, Price accused Russia of having carried out a mock diplomacy with the West to buy time and prepare its military operation. We want to make it clear to President Putin that diplomacy at gunpoint, coercive diplomacy is not something we are going to engage in.he added.

In this context, Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria announced that they were closing their airspace to Russian airlines after the invasion of Ukraine, while Delta airlines suspended a commercial agreement with Aeroflot, and the Russian civil aviation authority banned flights from Great Britain bound for Russia or flying over the country, in response to the British ban on Aeroflot flights.