Friday, September 05, 2014

NATO to Expand Command and Logistics Infrastructure in Eastern Europe, Rasmussen Says
Members of the People's Republic parliament in eastern Ukraine.
September 05, 16:15 UTC+4

NATO will rotate its forces deployed in Eastern Europe, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said

Results of NATO summit’s first day

NEWPORT, September 05. /ITAR-TASS/. NATO will expand its command and logistics infrastructure in Eastern Europe to create conditions for quick deployment of its sea-based, ground and air forces, NATO’s outgoing Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after the first working session of the two-day NATO summit in Wales on Friday.

NATO will rotate its forces deployed in Eastern Europe, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

The NATO-Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security signed in 1997 still remains in force, the alliance’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday after NATO’s first working session at the top level in Wales.

Rasmussen said NATO had not made any decisions to deviate from the act. He accused Russia of violating its principles.

The NATO-Russia Founding Act is the fundamental document in the relations between the Russian Federation and the alliance. It in particular states the principle of non-use of military force in foreign policy, as well as a joint declaration that Russia and NATO no longer see each other as adversaries.

NATO halted practical cooperation with Moscow after Russia incorporated Crimea in mid-March.

NATO leaders on Friday agreed plans to form a new force of several thousand troops ready to mobilize quickly in case an alliance country comes under attack, thus sending a clear message to “potential aggressors,” as NATO’s Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen put it.

"And it sends a clear message to any potential aggressor: Should you even think of attacking one ally, you will be facing the whole alliance," Rasmussen said after the first working session of the two-day NATO summit in Wales.

He also raised the issue of NATO’s expansion, saying that not a single thirds country, or a one which is not a NATO member state, had a right to veto the alliance’s expansion process.

Ukraine not ready for NATO

NATO membership for Ukraine could be a mistake at the present time, Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg warned delegates to the military bloc's summit in Wales on Friday.

"The alliance must stick to previously made statements that such an opportunity may appear possible only in the long-term future", said the premier of one of NATO's founding member states, opposing the presence of permanent NATO military bases in eastern Europe.

"Ukraine is still a neutral state, bounded by its regulations and the security situation in the region," Solberg said. "The whole of Ukraine must undergo essential changes before it joins Nato," she added.
NATO's next summit

Nato’s next summit will be held in Poland’s capital city Warsaw in 2016, the country’s President Bronislaw Komorowski said at the alliance’s meeting in Wales on Friday.

Komorowski invited his NATO allies to Warsaw underscoring that it would be an interesting experience for his country.

In any event, “it will take place in the same location ... which saw the fall of the Warsaw Pact," he said.

No comments: