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NATO Sends Ships, Jets East 01/24 06:13
NATO said Monday that it's putting extra forces on standby and sending more
ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe, as Ireland warned that new Russian
war games off its coast are not welcome given tensions over whether President
Vladimir Putin intends to attack Ukraine.
BRUSSELS (AP) -- NATO said Monday that it's putting extra forces on standby
and sending more ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe, as Ireland warned
that new Russian war games off its coast are not welcome given tensions over
whether President Vladimir Putin intends to attack Ukraine.
The U.S.-led military organization said that it is beefing up its
"deterrence" presence in the Baltic Sea area. Denmark is sending a frigate and
deploying F-16 war planes to Lithuania; Spain will also send warships and could
send fighter jets to Bulgaria; and France stands ready to send troops to
Romania.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO will "take all necessary
measures to protect and defend all allies." He said: "We will always respond to
any deterioration of our security environment, including through strengthening
our collective defense."
The announcement came as European Union foreign ministers sought to put on a
fresh display of resolve in support of Ukraine, and paper over concerns about
divisions on the best way to confront any Russian aggression.
"We are showing unprecedented unity about the situation in Ukraine, with the
strong coordination with the U.S.," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who
is chairing their meeting, told reporters in Brussels.
Asked whether the EU would follow a U.S. move and order the families of
European embassy personnel in Ukraine to leave, Borrell said: "We are not going
to do the same thing." He said he is keen to hear from Secretary of State
Antony Blinken about that decision.
Britain on Monday also announced it is withdrawing some diplomats and
dependents from its embassy in Kyiv. The Foreign Office said the move was "in
response to the growing threat from Russia."
Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman, Oleg Nikolenko, said the U.S. decision
was "a premature step" and a sign of "excessive caution." He said that Russia
is sowing panic among Ukrainians and foreigners in order to destabilize Ukraine.
Germany is monitoring developments, but German Foreign Minister Annalena
Baerbock stressed that "we must not contribute to unsettling the situation
further; we need to continue to support the Ukrainian government very clearly
and above all maintain the stability of the country."
Arriving at the EU meeting, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he
would inform his counterparts that Russia plans to holds war games 240
kilometers (150 miles) off Ireland's southwest coast -- in international waters
but within Ireland's exclusive economic zone.
"This isn't a time to increase military activity and tension in the context
of what's happening with and in Ukraine." Coveney said. "The fact that they are
choosing to do it on the western borders, if you like, of the EU, off the Irish
coast, is something that in our view is simply not welcome and not wanted right
now, particularly in the coming weeks."
During Monday's meeting, which Blinken will attend virtually, the ministers
will restate Europe's condemnation of the Russian military build-up near
Ukraine, involving an estimated 100,000 troops, tanks, artillery and heavy
equipment, diplomats and officials said ahead of the meeting.
They'll renew calls for dialogue, notably through the European-backed
"Normandy format," which helped to ease hostilities in 2015, a year after Putin
ordered the annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Fighting in eastern
Ukraine has killed around 14,000 people and still simmers today.
Should Putin move on Ukraine again, the ministers will warn, Russia would
face "massive consequences and severe costs." Those costs would be of a
financial and political nature. The EU insists that it stands ready to slap
hefty sanctions on Russia within days of any attack.
Over the weekend, some of the member countries closest to Russia -- Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania -- confirmed that they plan to send U.S.-made anti-tank
and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, a move endorsed by the United States.
But questions have been raised about just how unified the EU is. Diverse
political, business and energy interests have long divided the 27-country bloc
in its approach to Moscow. Around 40% of the EU's natural gas imports come from
Russia, much of it via pipelines across Ukraine.
Gas prices have skyrocketed, and the head of the International Energy Agency
has said that Russian energy giant Gazprom was already reducing its exports to
the EU in late 2021 despite high prices. Putin says Gazprom is respecting its
contract obligations, not putting the squeeze on Europe.
The EU's two major powers appear most cautious. Germany's Nord Stream 2
pipeline from Russia, which is complete but yet to pump gas, has become a
bargaining chip. French President Emmanuel Macron has renewed previously
rejected calls for an EU summit with Putin.
Late last year, France and Germany initially expressed doubts about U.S.
intelligence assessments that Moscow might be preparing to invade.
Late on Saturday, the head of the German navy, Vice Admiral Kay-Achim
Schoenbach, resigned after coming under fire for saying that Ukraine would not
regain the Crimean Peninsula, and for suggesting that Putin deserves "respect."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban plans to meet with Putin next week to
discuss a Russian-backed project to expand a Hungarian nuclear power plant.
Still, diplomats and officials said hard-hitting sanctions are being drawn
up with the EU's executive branch, the European Commission. But they were
reluctant to say what the measures might be or what action by Russia might
trigger them.
The aim, they said, is to try to match the doubts Putin has sowed about his
intentions for Ukraine with uncertainty about what any retaliatory European
action might look like, or when it would come.
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