The war at the gates of Europe has changed everything and, if Vladimir Putin wanted to move NATO away from his domains, he is achieving the opposite. This Thursday they met at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels the defense ministers of the military organization in a preparatory meeting before the summit of heads of state and government to be held on June 29 and 30 in Madrid and that, in the words of the organization’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg will be “transformative” since he arrives at a “crucial moment” for the security of the Allies. It is expected that during this meeting a new strategy for the next 10 years will be approved.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, NATO has doubled its number of battalions from four in Poland and the Baltic states to the current eight that include troops in Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria, but much remains to be done. According to the Ministers of Defense, it is not only about the creation of these forces but also about a new concept. Now, it is necessary not only to put more troops on the ground, but also with a greater rapid response capacity on land, at sea and in the air and that can also act against cyber attacks. As explained by the Norwegian politician, the challenge lies in putting more troops on alert and specific “pre-assigned” forces that are not on the ground permanently, but are trained to respond in defense of specific allied countries. This will be accompanied by an increase in so-called prepositioned matter, heavy weapons and ammunition that is ready for use urgentlywithout the need to be transported at the time of the threat, which sometimes costs too much time.
“Several allies have promised to contribute to a stronger presence in the eastern part of our Alliance, but we still have work to do ahead of the summit, where I expect more announcements,” Stoltenberg explained, without wanting to give specific numbers and leaving the fireworks final for the meeting in Madrid.
At the moment, it is known that Germany wants to expand its troops in Lithuania with this double model of permanent presence and ready to act. The goal is to reach 5,000 troops, which is known as a brigade. Currently only Poland has this number of allied troops on its territory.
In addition, at today’s meeting the allies have promised to continue arming Ukraine, amid criticism that promises are much faster than shipments. US President Joe Biden reported on Wednesday that your country will provide 960 million euros in additional artillery and defense weapons, as well as ammunition with the aim of supporting defensive operations in Donbas.
As for the possibility that at the Madrid summit, Turkey will lift its veto on Finland and Sweden’s entry request, Stoltenberg has shown himself to be especially cautious and did not want to talk about specific deadlines. In his last conversation with Recept Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, the Turkish president does not seem to have moved one iota from his initial proposals and believes that the two countries must show clear commitments that they will fight against Kurdish separatist terrorism. “We are working very hard on this and my goal is to find a solution as soon as possible”, the Norwegian politician has limited himself to responding, who has also commented that in his conversation with Erdogan he discussed the role of Turkey in the arrival of the grain that now itself is being blocked in Ukrainian ports. A maneuver that Russia is using as a weapon of war and that threatens to unleash famines in much of the world.
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