NATO Defense Minister: Armament instead of interference | tagesschau.de

The NATO defense ministers want to discuss expanding the presence in the eastern alliance area. The possible use of chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine is also causing concern. However, it is considered impossible for NATO to send troops.

It is the journalists from Ukraine who keep asking one question in Brussels. Sometimes desperate, sometimes determined and under pressure. “The question is,” said the correspondent of the national Ukrainian news agency at the press conference at NATO headquarters: “Isn’t now the right time for NATO to intervene?” To defeat Putin’s “military machine” “before Russian bombs fall on European capitals”.

NATO deployment almost impossible

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s answer to the question was clear. “The Allies have been training tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers for years,” he said. Many of them are now deployed at the front. In addition, the Allies have massively upgraded the army since 2014: delivered weapons, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, drones, ammunition and fuel. “The training and the equipment will help Ukraine to defend itself.”

Helping people to help themselves – that wasn’t the interference the Ukrainian journalist had in mind. Nevertheless, the fact that NATO itself is sending troops to Ukraine is considered impossible. Just as impossible as a no-fly zone over Ukraine. It would have to be monitored and guaranteed; if necessary, the western military would have to shoot down Russian planes in the event of an airspace violation. And that would result in what all thirty NATO member countries want to avoid at all costs – that they would be drawn into a war against Russia.

Crisis meeting of NATO defense ministers

Now, when NATO defense ministers convene in Brussels for an emergency meeting, they probably won’t talk about meddling in the Ukraine war. But they will discuss consequences that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression could have for the alliance.

According to Stoltenberg, the troop presence and the defense strategy will be reconsidered. Not only because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also “in light of the merger of Russian and Belarusian forces”. From a Western point of view, this is a new threat.

The Alliance’s military planners are now to be given the task of working out an answer. Several hundred thousand NATO soldiers are already on high alert. There are now 100,000 soldiers in Europe from the USA alone. France transfers about 3,000 soldiers to Romania.

USA: Further increase pressure on Moscow

The US Ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, announced further measures. “The allies from the 30 member countries will sit down together,” Smith said, “to discuss how to increase the pressure on Moscow.” It’s about a red line for the Russian President. It begins at NATO’s eastern border. More troops are to be stationed in the eastern part of the alliance, and they are to be put on increased alert. Reinforcements in the Air Force and Navy areas are also under discussion.

NATO is also alarmed by the Russian accusation that there are biological laboratories and chemical weapons in Ukraine. According to Secretary General Stoltenberg, this could be a pretext for Russia itself planning to use chemical weapons. Putin had already made this possible during the Syrian war.