NATO members gather in Wales with Russia at the top of the agenda
As the NATO summit's annual meeting began in Wales, members looked set to agree to creating a rapid reaction force focused on potential regional conflicts. The reason? Russia.
As the NATO summit's annual meeting began in Wales, members looked set to agree to creating a rapid reaction force focused on potential regional conflicts. The reason? Russia.
Russia faced harsh criticism at the start of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Wales today with the 28 member state alliance reevaluating its security role in Europe amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance continues to witness 鈥淩ussian involvement in destabilizing the situation in eastern Ukraine鈥� even after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a seven-point peace plan. Russia maintains it has not armed rebels in eastern Ukraine or contributed to the conflict there.
Early reports from the summit suggest NATO leaders are set to agree to create "rapid reaction" forces that could be deployed in less than two days to regional crisis spots. Countries close to Russia, especially Poland, have called for NATO to permanently station troops on their territory, but Reuters reports this is unlikely to happen because it would break a 1997 agreement the alliance made with Russia.
As the Monitor reported, the creation of rapid response forces would thrust the United States into the center of any future conflict.
As the BBC鈥檚 Jonathan Marcus reports, the summit is meant to 鈥渞eassure worried Nato members and to send clear signals to Moscow about Nato鈥檚 resolve.鈥�
Ukraine鈥檚 recent ambitions to join NATO caused Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov聽to warn before the summit that both NATO and the US should stay out of the current situation. Mr. Lavrov said Ukraine鈥檚 call to drop its non-aligned member status was 鈥渁聽blatant attempt to聽derail all efforts aimed at聽initiating a聽dialogue on聽ensuring national reconciliation.鈥�
Twelve countries are expected to join Ukraine and the US in a military exercise later this month in western Ukraine.
The ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine has taken a heavy toll with the United Nations reporting close to 2,600 deaths with more than one million people displaced.
The summit comes a day after France decided to suspend its delivery of warships to Russia with French President Francois Hollande鈥檚 office saying actions by Russia have hurt 鈥渢he foundations of security in Europe.鈥�
Ukrainian and Russian representatives will meet in Minsk, Belarus tomorrow to continue talks aimed at ending fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Moscow rebels that began in April.