EU Defence Ministers to work more closely with NATO
By Ian Davis, NATO Watch
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced today that additional steps were being taken to strengthen the collective defence of allies in response to the crisis in Ukraine.
Speaking at a news conference after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, Rasmussen said, "Today, we agreed on a package of further military measures to reinforce our collective defence and demonstrate the strength of Allied solidarity. We will have more planes in the air, more ships in the water, and more readiness on land".
The additional policing aircraft and allied ships "will deploy to the Baltic Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere, as required," the Secretary General announced.
These military measures, which Rasmussen said will be implemented immediately, follow recent steps by NATO to increase air policing in the Baltic States and the deployment of Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft surveillance flights over Poland and Romania.
Rasmussen explained that these measures "send a clear message: NATO will protect every Ally and defend against any threat against our fundamental commitment".
US officials have also sought to reassure NATO allies in Eastern Europe by dispatching the US Navy warship USS Donald Cook to the Black Sea.
These measures will be welcomed by leaders of the Baltic States who have been urging NATO to do more. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite called for NATO to deploy troops in her country and said Russian authorities should bury any hope of a "Crimea-style scenario" in Lithuania, the Moscow Times reported.
Grybauskaite, who attended military exercises Tuesday during which Lithuanian troops practiced repelling enemy attacks, said there is a "vital" need for NATO troops. "When we see the increasingly complex situation on the borders of Lithuania and Europe, when Russia is practically destroying the entire sense of security in Europe," she said.
Similarly, the International Business Times reported Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves as asking NATO for a "physical presence on the ground" in Eastern Europe to deter Russian advances.
"We need more exercises," President Ilves told CNN. "We think that the decision to increase the number of planes providing air policing in the region is a very good one. But given the uncertainty that we see to the east and the kinds of actions that we've seen in the east, we need to make sure that others understand that this is not something to play around with."
Meanwhile, EU defence ministers worried by Russia's actions against Ukraine, agreed at their meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday to work more closely with NATO.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen briefed the EU ministerial meeting and told journalists that the EU and NATO "need to train and exercise more together, for instance the NATO Response Force and the EU battlegroups, so that we stand ready for whatever the future may bring".
Gen. Patrick de Rousiers, chairman of the EU's Military Committee, said defence ministers in the ensuing discussion appeared in the main to endorse "an increase of relations between the EU and NATO in all areas", from development of military capabilities to preparation for and involvement in actual operations.
Maciej Popowski, deputy head of the EU's External Action Service, said the recent actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government have galvanized EU member governments to "get real" about commitments to defence. "People have a tendency to take security in Europe for granted. But it requires constant commitment and constant, continuous investment," he said.