Contents tagged with NATO

  • Three western aircraft carried out reconnaissance missions near the borders of the Kaliningrad region

    Russia's Interfax news agency reported citing western websites that track the flights of military aircraft that on Tuesday, February 28, three military aircraft from the United States, Sweden and NATO were conducting reconnaissance at the Russian border in the south of the Baltic.

    According to the agency, operational tasks near the coast of the Kaliningrad region were carried out by the U.S. Air Force’s RC-135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft, NATO's E-3A AWACS airborne early warning and …

  • Merkel's ally: NATO should confront Russia from a position of strength

    Germany must increase defense expenditures to be able to, jointly with its NATO allies, oppose Russia from a position of strength, Chairman of the Christian Democrats Party in the Bundestag Volker Kauder said, Deutsche Welle reported.

    “Unfortunately, Russia under President Putin is trying to destabilize Europe every day. It must be opposed from a position of strength, but this does not mean going back to the ‘Cold War,’” said  Kauder.

    He further noted that German increases in defense …

  • Lithuania has requested that the U.S. military's deployment in the country be permanent

    Linas Linkevičius, head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, said that the country considers the constant presence of American troops in their territory necessary, and that this request has already been expressed to the US authorities.

    “We are advocating the constant presence of American troops, on account of the fact that our own possibilities are extremely limited,” Linkevičius stated, as cited by Delfi.

    He also added that he made this request to the US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert …

  • German tanks and armored vehicles arrive in Lithuania

    A heavy machine division of the Bundeswehr successfully reached Lithuania on Friday, February 24, a representative of the German armed forces reported. Twenty Marder infantry fighting vehicles and six Leopard 2 tanks were delivered by rail to Sheshtokai station. From Sheshtokai they were transported to their place of permanent deployment at the Rukla military base.

    Transports of the heavy machine division to Lithuania took several days. On February 21, part of the division departed from …

  • Five new Russian divisions were created as a 'response to NATO'

    Russia has formed four mechanized infantry divisions and one armored division, as stated by Vladimir Shamanov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, at a meeting with military attaches from other countries, Interfax reported.

    “In order to maintain combat capability, four mechanized infantry divisions and one armored division have been formed. This is a direct response to the challenges and threats posed by NATO’s actions to increase its presence along the eastern flank,” said Shamanov. …

  • Lithuanian President hopes for even more support from NATO and the U.S.

    Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė announced during the Munich Security Conference that her country expects even broader military assistance from the United States to further strengthen NATO's eastern flank. The President made the statement on Saturday, February 18 during a meeting of the leaders of the three Baltic States with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

    Grybauskaitė stressed at the end of the meeting, in an interview to Agence France-Presse (AFP), that it is important to bear in …

  • The United States will deploy another thousand soldiers to Poland

    In April this year, the U.S. will deploy a thousand more soldiers to the Polish city of Orzysz, Spiegel reported, citing a source in the European headquarters of the U.S. Army in Wiesbaden, Germany.

    The deployment of troops will begin in late March from a base in Vilseck, Germany. The equipment sent there will include several armored personnel carriers, self-propelled howitzers and mortars.

    The deployment of additional military forces is a result of NATO's decision to strengthen the eastern …

  • NATO fighters conduct training flights over Estonia

    The German air force will conduct low flights over Estonia at the Amari air base on Monday, as per information from the main headquarters of the Estonian Defense Forces, website ERR.ee reported.

    The flights will take place at an altitude of no more than 152 meters and far from any populated areas.

    NATO countries allocate specific parts of their airspace for air force exercises and training, including low-altitude flights. All flights are coordinated with the Department of Aviation and …

  • Media: Russia aims to discredit German soldiers in Lithuania using fake news

    Bundeswehr soldiers in Lithuania have become the victims of information attacks that involve fake news aiming to discredit the German military.

    An official representative of the Ministry of Defense of Germany confirmed this information, Deutsche Welle reported.

    A German Defense Ministry spokesman told the publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that on February 14, Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Viktoras Pranckietis received an anonymous letter by email that accused German soldiers …

  • Pence: Russia must be held accountable for the crisis in eastern Ukraine

    In his first major foreign policy address on behalf of the administration of the US president, Vice President Mike Pence has said that the President of the US Donald Trump believes that the US and Russia can find ways for cooperation but Moscow should be held accountable for the crisis in Ukraine.

    While speaking the Munich Security Conference, the Vice President issued a hardline statement, saying that, “We must hold Russia accountable and demand that they honor the Minsk Agreements, beginning …