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NATO to launch Black Sea force as latest counter to Russia

By Robin Emmott

 

Jet fighters releases flares during the Zapad 2017 war games at a range near the town of Borisov, Belarus September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

 

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - NATO launches a new multinational force in Romania on Monday in its latest step to counter Russia along its eastern flank and to check a growing Russian presence in the Black Sea following the Kremlin's 2014 seizure of Crimea.

 

Initially a small force relying on troops from 10 NATO countries including Italy and Canada, as well as host Romania, the land, air and sea deployments are expected to compliment some 900 U.S. troops already and separately in place throughout the country.

 

"Our purpose is peace, not war," Romania's President Klaus Iohannis told a session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest. "We are not a threat for Russia, but we need an allied strategy in the long term, we need dialogue from a strong position of defence and discouragement," he said.

 

Russia accuses NATO of trying to encircle the country and threatening stability in eastern Europe, which NATO denies.

 

Around the Black Sea, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are NATO members while Georgia and Ukraine aspire to join.

 

Details of the new force size were unclear. NATO officials said the land component of the force involves a brigade-size multinational NATO force, typically some 3,000 to 4,000 troops, but the contribution of non-Romanian troops is modest.

 

In additional to existing NATO Black Sea naval patrols, a maritime presence will include more allied visits to Romanian and Bulgarian ports, enhanced training and exercises of a limited scale.

 

NATO air forces will also be limited at first, but Britain is deploying fighter planes to Romania, and Canada is already patrolling Romanian air space along with national pilots. Italy is patrolling Bulgarian air space.

 

As in the Baltics and Poland, NATO says relatively light multinational model recalls allied support for West Berlin in the 1950s, when British, French and U.S. forces ensured the Soviet Union could not control all Berlin.

 

That drives home the commitment enshrined in NATO's founding treaty that an attack on one ally is an attack on all, meaning all 28 NATO nations would be required to respond in the case of any potential Russian aggression.

 

DIPLOMATIC SUCCESS

 

While months in planning, the establishment of the force, which NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will visit later on Monday, comes as Russia winds down its biggest war games since 2013.

 

The Zapad, or West, games were a show of its latest weaponry and its ability to quickly mass soldiers on NATO's borders.

NATO's "Tailored Forward Presence" in Romania and Bulgaria marks a diplomatic success for Bucharest, which has pushed for a NATO force on its territory since the U.S.-led alliance moved some 4,000 troops to the Baltics and Poland, as well as prepositioned U.S. weaponry, early this year.

 

Romania's demands have gained extra weight as it is set to reach a NATO goal of spending 2 percent of economic output on defence this year, a priority for U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

The force is also an attempt at a middle ground in NATO's emerging deterrent strategy in the Black Sea, rich in oil and gas, to counter Russia's own plans to create what military analysts say is a "buffer zone" in the region.

 

The 2008 Russian operation to put troops in Georgia's South Ossetia's region, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and its annexation of Crimea have raised the stakes, with all sides warning of a new, Cold-War style scenario.

 

Romania pushed for bigger NATO naval presence on the Black Sea for over a year, but found its neighbour Bulgaria wary of provoking Russia. Turkey only supports limited NATO reinforcements, concerned about breaking international rules limiting the scale of patrols in the Black Sea.

 

Turkey has played down the extent of Russia's militarisation of Crimea, which NATO says involves an "anti-access/area denial" strategy for surrounding areas, with a laying of surface-to-air missiles and communications jamming equipment.

 

(Reporting by Robin Emmott Additional reporting by Luiza Ilie and Radu-Sorin Marinas Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-10-09

[craigt3365]

I guess this is to be expected if you invade and take over territory from a sovereign nation.  Sad it has to escalate like this.

[Jai Dee]

Several off-topic posts and replies have been removed from this thread.

 

The subject matter is not Iraq.

[Srikcir]

If hostilities break out over North Korea, it wouldn't surprise me that Putin will take advantage of that conflict to press further into Ukraine with pro-Russian "insurgents." With the potential of occupying as far west as Kiev. 

NATO must remain active and full strength in eastern Europe and not become too diluted by diversion of armed forces to SE Asia.

[coconuthead]

10 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

I guess this is to be expected if you invade and take over territory from a sovereign nation.  Sad it has to escalate like this.

the people in crimea always wanted to be part of russia.

[craigt3365]

7 minutes ago, coconuthead said:

the people in crimea always wanted to be part of russia.

Good for them!  Setup a legal vote and go for it! Do it legally. Not at the end of a gun from a foreign country.

[midas]

1 hour ago, craigt3365 said:

Good for them!  Setup a legal vote and go for it! Do it legally. Not at the end of a gun from a foreign country.

Crimeans back Russian takeover: If they try to take it back, ‘I will fight’

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/04/crimean-essay-soviet-union-collapse-25th-anniversary-russia/95419178/

[craigt3365]

10 hours ago, midas said:

Crimeans back Russian takeover: If they try to take it back, ‘I will fight’

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/04/crimean-essay-soviet-union-collapse-25th-anniversary-russia/95419178/

Again, doesn't matter what they want. It's up to all Ukrainians.  Not just a select few.  Sad some don't seem to understand this.  Luckily, the world community does.  Thus, the sanctions.  And NATO's moves as laid out here.

 

Sadly, not all are treated well in Crimea:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41386490

 

Quote

 

UN accuses Russia of violating human rights in Crimea

The report cites "grave human rights violations, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture, and at least one extra-judicial execution".

 

It says civil servants were forced to renounce their Ukrainian citizenship or face losing their jobs, and condemned Moscow's decision to replace Ukrainian laws with Russian ones.