(RIA Novosti – December 26, 2014) Russia’s permanent envoy to NATO Aleksandr Grushko has said that NATO is beginning to realize that it cannot overcome the current crisis in European security without Russia, RIA Novosti (part of the state-owned International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya) reported on 26 December. “My impression is that among many NATO member states, first of all the […]
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(Interfax – December 3, 2014) Ukrainian former President Leonid Kuchma believes Ukraine should be realistic about its capabilities and should come close to meeting the standards of the EU and NATO before speaking about membership in these structures. “We can head anywhere. We have indeed taken the course in the direction to the EU and NATO, but we should be […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, December 1, 2014) The “cold war” between Russia and the West never ended, and under certain circumstances it may move into the “hot” phase, former Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Army Gen Yuriy Baluyevskiy believes. “The armed forces of the USA, of NATO in general, are “honed” today towards fighting against Russia, […]
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(Interfax – December 1, 2014) Russia does not believe the point of no return has been passed in its relations with NATO and is ready to work with the alliance, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “The point of no return has not been passed. I think it’s in the interests of both sides not to fuel tensions, but to actively […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Patrick Donahue, Arne Delfs, Ilya Arkhipov – November 26, 2014) German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is alarmed by President Petro Poroshenko’s plan to hold a referendum on Ukraine joining NATO, seeing it as a dead end that would only inflame tensions with Russia. Ukrainian membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not on the table […]
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(RFE/RL – November 21, 2014) Ukraine’s newly agreed five-party ruling coalition has reportedly set the country’s membership of NATO as its major goal. The coalition comprises the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, the Popular Front, Samopomich (Self-Rule), the Radical Party, and Batkivshchyna (Fatherland). The five pro-Western parties that passed the 5 percent threshold in last month’s parliamentary elections control a total of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber – November 20, 2014) President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman on Tuesday voiced what Russia wants from the West over Ukraine: guarantees that the former Soviet republic will not join NATO, an outcome that political analysts agree was already unlikely in the year-long conflict that has already claimed 4,000 lives. “We would like to hear […]
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MOSCOW, November 11 (RIA Novosti) – NATO is set to continue its military pressure on Russia and has held numerous exercises on Russia’s border, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official said Tuesday. “It is evident that our colleagues from NATO are set to continue military pressure on Russia, which… is unlikely to make Europe safer,” Sergei Koshelyev, the head of […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – October 24, 2014) While top Russian officials and pro-Kremlin politicians continue to paint NATO as an existential threat to Russia and even an instigator of the Ukraine crisis, Moscow has been working to strengthen the legitimacy of its own security organization: the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). But while this bundling of […]
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WASHINGTON, October 10 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine should not become a member of NATO and was never intended to become a NATO member, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander of Europe told RIA Novosti. “We don’t need Ukraine as a member of NATO, we shouldn’t put it in NATO. It’s a different country. It was never our plan when we […]
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US Department of State October 9, 2014 Remarks at the Aspen Institute Victoria Nuland Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Berlin, Germany Assistant Secretary Nuland: It’s wonderful to be here with all of you at the Aspen Conference. Thank you to Aspen. Thank you to Microsoft for your support, this fantastic space. Thank you Rudy, and congrats to […]
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(RIA Novosti – Moscow, October 8, 2014) Russia has been ready for a long time to denounce the agreement on the stay of troops of NATO member states on the territory of the Russian Federation but one should not hurry with this, the chairman of the Russian State Duma defence committee, Vladimir Komoyedov, has said. After NATO took upon itself […]
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Subject: UKRAINIAN TRAGEDY AND A NEW COLD WAR Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2014 From: George Enteen <gxe1@psu.edu> UKRAINIAN TRAGEDY AND A NEW COLD WAR George Enteen Professor Emeritus of Russian History Penn State University The appalling events in Ukraine have but a single explanation in the minds of Americans – Russian aggression. This is personified and dramatized in the unattractive […]
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MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) – It would be extremely difficult to revive constructive dialogue between Russia and NATO as bilateral relations have deteriorated to a great extent this year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday. “The atmosphere [of bilateral cooperation] that has been respected by the alliance for a long time has dissipated in a blink of an eye. […]
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MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti) – The United States is deploying some 700 troops as well as battle tanks in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland in the next couple of weeks, NBC News reported Wednesday. “The purpose is to be a very visible demonstration of commitment to our allies,” said Captain John Farmer, public affairs officer for the Ironhorse, formal […]
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WASHINGTON, September 29 (RIA Novosti) – US President Barack Obama has excluded the possibility of military confrontation between Russia and NATO over the Ukrainian crisis in his interview to CBS Monday. “No, I don’t think there’s going to be a military confrontation between NATO and Russia, although we have worked very hard to reassure that Article Five of the NATO […]
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From: Ira Straus (IRASTRAUS@aol.com Subject: re JRL-2014#201 (Adomanis) Date: Sept 23, 2014 Re: 11. Forbes.com: Mark Adomanis, Ukrainians Still Don’t Want To Join NATO. It is disappointing to see such a misleading article, from one of the few pro-Russia writers still around who has generally been accurate and had a grasp of reality. The article actually does not say anything […]
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MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) – Russia knows about the agreements reached by Ukraine and some NATO countries on direct supplies of weapons to Kyiv and suggests thinking about the consequences of the implementation of such decisions. “We believe that all questions on this matter, including relating to the responsibility for the consequences of such a step to peace in Ukraine, […]
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MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) – Berlin will neither increase its military spending at the request of NATO on account of the crises in Ukraine and Iraq, nor decrease it, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with ARD. “Currently, the Bundeswehr is well equipped and is fully prepared for participation in military actions”, Germany’s Spiegel […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Matthew Bodner – September 8, 2014) As West’s Cold-War-era military alliance cranks its belligerence levels up to 11, NATO’s historic enemy, Russia, is rejigging its own military thinking in response. In response to the harder stance confirmed at NATO’s summit last week in Wales, Russian officials are revisiting the country’s war doctrine, mulling its nuclear […]
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From PBS, Jeffrey Brown interviews Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, about unfolding events in Ukraine and the Western response. Click here for transcript: pbs.org/newshour/bb/will-cease-fire-ukraine-russian-separatists-last/
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – September 6, 2014) Czech President Milos Zeman sparked a testy exchange with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt this week at the NATO summit in Wales, declaring that Prague had not yet seen “clear proof” of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. “President Zeman should ask his own people,” Bildt retorted. “I don’t know if the Czech Republic […]
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NEWPORT, September 5 (RIA Novosti) – NATO and Ukraine did not discuss the possibility of the Eastern European country’s membership in the military alliance, a NATO official said Friday. “In regard to membership, no, that question wasn’t raided and wasn’t discussed,” the official said on conditions of anonymity. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian government approved legislation to change the country’s “non-bloc” […]
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(NATO – nato.int – September 2, 2014) “NATO and Russia: a new strategic reality” Remarks by NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow at the conference on “NATO after the Wales Summit”, Cardiff University Thank you, Sir Emyr Jones Parry, for that kind introduction. I’m grateful for the invitation to be here on the eve of the NATO Summit. We’ve been preparing […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Gevorg Mirzayan, special to RBTH – September 3, 2014) NATO will hold its first summit since the start of the conflict in Ukraine on September 4-5. According to information leaked to the media, the alliance is planning to adopt several measures aimed at deterring Russia from military action against European nations. Analysts polled by RBTH […]
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(RIA Novosti – September 2, 2014) Russian politicians and pundits have expressed support for the announcement that Russia will update its military doctrine. The deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council, Mikhail Popov, said today in an interview with RIA Novosti news agency that Russia will make changes to its current military doctrine before the end of 2014 to account […]
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(Interfax – August 28, 2014) Question: Ambassador Grushko, it is clear from statements by NATO leaders what kinds of decisions on Russia and in response to events in Ukraine may come at the alliance’s forthcoming summit. If the proposals announced to date are adopted in Wales, will it start a new Cold War between Russia and NATO? Will the “divorce” […]
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WASHINGTON, August 28 (RIA Novosti) – A week before the September 4-5 NATO summit in Wales, a number of allies started to fear that the readiness action plan to increase the alliance’s military presence along Russia’s border would be provocative, a Center for Strategic and International Studies representative told RIA Novosti. “The allies have already fully anticipated a very strong […]
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MOSCOW, August 28 (RIA Novosti) – NATO allies do not intend to discuss the status of their relations with Ukraine or take the responsibility for the country’s protection, but will announce consulting and financial aid to Ukrainian military, a high-ranking NATO official told journalists. “In Wales, there will be an announcement on the form of military consultations and financial support […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – August 28, 2014) NATO will set up new bases in Eastern Europe in an attempt to deter President Vladimir Putin from meddling in the internal affairs of countries that used to be under Moscow’s control, the organization’s secretary-general told journalists in an interview published Wednesday. The move effectively returns the state of […]
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MOSCOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) – The West ought to fundamentally change its approach towards the Ukrainian crisis, making Ukraine a ‘neutral buffer’ between Russia and NATO instead of westernizing it, asserts John J. Mearsheimer, American professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. “The United States and its European allies now face a choice on Ukraine. They can […]
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KYIV. Aug 27 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian government plans to endorse a Ukraine-NATO action program for 2014 at its Wednesday session, Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said. “The government will endorse a Ukraine-NATO annual action program today. The president of Ukraine will be present at the NATO summit. NATO is our partner, and we expect our western partners and the alliance […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – James G. Neuger, Patrick Donahue – August 18, 2014) NATO will stop short of basing substantial combat forces in eastern Europe to avoid a complete rupture in relations with Russia, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. A North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit next month will settle on other ways of protecting the alliance’s eastern flank, including previously […]
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BRUSSELS, August 5 (RIA Novosti) – NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow said Tuesday Russia had beefed up its troops along its border with Ukraine by some 20,000 soldiers. “Russia broke intl law w/ [with] no justification, invaded #Ukraine, backs separatists, now has ±20,000 troops on Ukraine’s E. border,” Vershbow wrote on his Twitter page. NATO has never looked for pretext […]
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MOSCOW, July 8 (RIA Novosti) – The group of NATO ships in the Black Sea has grown to nine vessels, setting a record for recent decades, a Russian military source told RIA Novosti Tuesday. “American cruiser Vella Gulf arrived in Burgas early Tuesday, and French frigate Surcouf, which returned to the Black Sea on July 4, unmoored from the port […]
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(RIA Novosti – July 7, 2014) Russia doesn’t view NATO as an adversary, Secretary-General Rasmussen is wrong, the Russian mission to NATO has said in response to an interview Anders Fogh Rasmussen gave to Euronews. RIA Novosti news agency quoted the mission saying via Twitter: “The NATO secretary-general’s statement that in Russian military documents ‘the alliance is viewed as an […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – June 27, 2014) The White House has submitted to Congress a 2015 military funding request that includes $1 billion to support NATO allies in Europe in response to Russia’s interference in Ukraine. The money is part of a total $65.8 billion Overseas Contingency Operations request that U.S. President Barack Obama submitted Thursday, […]
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MOSCOW. June 20 (Interfax) – Greenpeace has rejected a claim made by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen that Russia funds European environmentalists opposing shale gas production in Europe. “Greenpeace sees this suggestion as absurd because the Organization and many other environmental groups are calling for fracking which used in exploiting shale formations, to be banned across the world,” Greenpeace […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, June 16, 2014) A decision has been taken at the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] to suspend attempts to establish dialogue with NATO, and the course has been mapped towards developing cooperation with the OSCE. “Given the situation, the council of foreign ministers (of the CSTO member states) deemed it advisable to suspend attempts to establish dialogue […]
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(Stratfor.com – George Friedman – June 10, 2014) Editor’s Note: This is the final installment in George Friedman’s recent series written during his journey from the Baltics, through Central and Eastern Europe and then east to Turkey and Azerbaijan. I traveled between Poland and Azerbaijan during a rare period when the forces that shape Europe appear to be in flux, and most […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, June 9, 2014) Russia sees the NATO build-up near its borders as a display of hostile intentions, views the deployment of additional forces in central and eastern Europe as a breach of the Founding Act [between Russia and NATO], and warns that it will not let this pass without responding. “We cannot view this sort of military […]
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(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yuri Paniyev, special to RBTH – June 3, 2014) The first NATO-Russia Council session in three months saw Russia’s envoy to NATO hit out at the organization’s deployment of extra troops to Eastern Europe. At the talks in Brussels Russia reiterated its call for Kiev to bring military operations in eastern Ukraine to […]
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BRUSSELS. June 2 (Interfax) – NATO was and is a leading military organization in the European-Atlantic region – that is why, while developing cooperation with it in spheres of common interest, Russia paid special attention to ensuring appropriate defense levels amid any scenarios, Russia’s Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko told Interfax. “It is known that in military affairs potentials, […]
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MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax) – The stepped-up debate on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO may have negative implications for the north Baltic region, which has been traditionally calm from the military-political point of view, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. “Amid the NATO infrastructure build-up in a number of countries bordering on Russia and the stepped-up […]
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KIEV, May 26 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s membership in NATO is off the table for now, but its future in the military alliance will depend on Russia’s plan of action, the Ukrainian acting foreign chief said Monday. “I can say for sure that Ukraine is not going to raise the question of its NATO membership any time soon. It runs […]
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(Business New Europe, MOSCOW BLOG – bne.eu – Ben Aris in Moscow – May 19, 2014) The shouting match between west and east continues, but the Russian stock market was surging on May 19, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to arrive in China, where he is expected to sign a string of massive investment deals. Some […]
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MOSCOW, May 19 (RIA Novosti) – Relations between Russia, the European Union and NATO need to be fundamentally reconsidered, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday. “We will discuss international affairs, including the European situation, on what is happening in the interrelations between Russia and the EU, what is happening in the NATO-Russia Council in regard to the crisis in […]
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BRUSSELS. May 14 (Interfax) – It is clear that certain forces in NATO are preparing the ground to rescind the 1997 Russia-NATO Founding Act, which starts with the statement that Russia and the alliance have stopped being adversaries, Russian Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Alliance Alexander Grushko said. “In addition to cooperation principles, schemes and areas, it carries an […]
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MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti), Rick Rozoff – On May 9 the website of United States European Command, one of six regional unified (land, air, naval and special forces) combatant commands used by the Pentagon to divide up the entire planet, announced the opening ceremony of Exercise Spring Storm in Estonia run by the U.S.’s Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR). […]
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BRUSSELS. May 13 (Interfax) – NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow has accused Russia of attempts to establish a sphere of influence in Eurasia and to push its will on countries of the region. “My message today is that, if we are to enjoy a peaceful and prosperous European future, all countries must have the right to choose their own […]
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