U.S. Intensifies Military Buildup in Europe
NATO Declares Russia ‘Most Direct Threat’
MADRID (Dispatches) — NATO declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security, as the military alliance met Wednesday to confront what NATO’s chief called the biggest security crisis since World War II.
It also promised to “step up political and practical support” to Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s invasion.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky chided NATO for not embracing his embattled country more fully and asked for more weapons to defeat Moscow’s forces.
The Ukraine conflict drove NATO to pour troops and weapons into eastern Europe on a scale not seen since the Cold War, and was set to give the defense organization two new members in Sweden and Finland.
“President (Vladimir) Putin’s war against Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and has created the greatest security crisis in Europe since the Second World War,” said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
The alliance promised to more support for Ukraine, which has already received billions in military and civilian aid from NATO countries. But Zelensky lamented that NATO’s open-door policy to new members did not appear to apply to his country.
“The open-door policy of NATO shouldn’t resemble the old turnstiles on Kyiv’s subway, which stay open but close when you approach them until you pay,” Zelensky said by video link to the leaders of the 30 NATO nations meeting in Madrid. “Hasn’t Ukraine paid enough?”
He asked for more modern artillery systems and other weapons and warned the leaders that they either had to provide Ukraine with the help it needed to defeat Russia or “face a delayed war between Russia and yourself.”
“The question is who’s next? Moldova? Or the Baltics? Or Poland? The answer is: all of them,” he claimed.
Zelensky has acknowledged that NATO membership is a distant prospect. The alliance is trying to strike a delicate balance, letting its member-nations arm Ukraine without sparking a direct confrontation between NATO and nuclear-armed Russia.
Under NATO treaties, an attack on any member would be considered an attack on all and trigger a military response by the entire alliance.
U.S. President Joe Biden, whose country provides the bulk of NATO’s military power, vowed the Madrid summit would send “an unmistakable message ... that NATO is strong and united.”
Still, strains among NATO allies have also emerged as the cost of energy and other essential goods has skyrocketed, partly because of the war and tough Western sanctions on Russia. There also are tensions over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine should make to stop the fighting.
Money could also be a sensitive issue — just nine of NATO’s 30 members currently meet the organization’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose country does hit the target, urged NATO allies “to dig deep to restore deterrence and ensure defense in the decade ahead.”
The war has already triggered a big increase in NATO’s forces in eastern Europe, and allies are expected to agree at the summit to boost the strength of the alliance’s rapid reaction force nearly eightfold, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops, by next year. The troops will be based in their home nations but dedicated to specific countries on NATO’s eastern flank, where the alliance plans to build up stocks of equipment and ammunition.
Stoltenberg said it was part of the “the biggest overhaul of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.”
The leaders are also set to publish NATO’s new Strategic Concept, its once-a-decade set of priorities and goals.
The last such document, in 2010, called Russia a “strategic partner.” Now, the alliance is set to declare Moscow its No. 1 threat. The document will also set out NATO’s approach on issues from cybersecurity to climate change — and the growing economic and military reach of China.
For the first time, the leaders of Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand are attending the summit as guests, a reflection of the growing importance of Asia and the Pacific region.
Stoltenberg said China was not NATO’s adversary, but posed “challenges to our values, to our interest and to our security.”
The summit opened with one problem solved, after Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. In response to the Russian operation, the two Nordic nations abandoned their long-held nonaligned status and applied to join NATO. Russia shares a long border with Finland.
NATO operates by consensus, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to block the Nordic pair, insisting they change their stance on Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey considers terrorists.
After urgent top-level talks with leaders of the three countries, Stoltenberg said the impasse had been cleared.
Turkey hailed Tuesday’s agreement as a triumph, saying the Nordic nations had agreed to crack down on groups that Ankara deems national security threats, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is also considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and the EU, and its Syrian extension. It said they also agreed “not to impose embargo restrictions in the field of defense industry” on Turkey and to take “concrete steps on the extradition of terrorist criminals.”
Stoltenberg said leaders of the 30-nation alliance would issue a formal invitation Wednesday to the two countries. The decision has to be ratified by all individual nations, but he said he was “absolutely confident” Finland and Sweden would become members. Stoltenberg said he expected the process to be finished “rather quickly,” but did not set a time on it.
U.S. to Boost Military Presence in Europe
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the U.S. will significantly increase its military presence in Europe for the long haul, including by establishing its first permanent presence in Poland.
The White House said Biden’s commitments mean the U.S. will maintain a presence of 100,000 troops in Europe, up 20,000 from the levels before the Ukraine war began, for the “foreseeable future.”
In addition to the new basing of a U.S. military garrison in Poland, Biden also said the U.S. is sending two additional F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the UK and more air defenses and other capabilities to Germany and Italy.
“Today I’m announcing the United States will enhance our force posture in Europe and respond to the changing security environment as well as strengthening our collective security,” he said.
The more muscular American presence in Europe is still a far cry from its posture during the Cold War, when roughly 300,000 American troops, on average, were stationed in the region.
Biden said the U.S. will permanently station the U.S. Army V Corps forward command in Poland, a move that he said would strengthen U.S.-NATO interoperability across the alliance’s eastern flank. The decision marks the first permanent basing of U.S. forces on NATO’s eastern edge. Biden added that the U.S. is also stepping up its rotational deployments of troops to Romania and the Baltic region.
U.S. officials emphasized that the permanent basing applied only to headquarters units, not combat troops, and was therefore consistent with a 1997 agreement between NATO and Russia in which the alliance agreed not to permanently base combat troops in Eastern Europe as it aimed to build more constructive ties in the post-Cold War environment.
The combat units Biden is sending to Romania and the Baltic region are on rotational deployments, rather than permanent assignment, to remain in compliance with that agreement.
Biden announced on Tuesday after arriving for the summit that the U.S. would base two additional destroyers at its naval base in Rota, Spain, bringing the total number to six.
Russia said it would not be intimidated by U.S. military reinforcements.
“I think that those who propose such solutions are under the illusion that they will be able to intimidate Russia, somehow restrain it - they will not succeed,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters.
“The security of countries where additional contingents will appear will not be strengthened. The prospect of stabilization will be distant. Risks will increase,” he added.
He said Russia would respond. “We have the capabilities and resources,” Ryabkov added, threatening retaliation. “Now what is happening will certainly lead to compensatory measures on our part.”