Tag: nato

Swedish PM Kristersson agrees to meet Hungary’s Orban for talks on NATO bid | NATO News

After ratification by Turkey, Hungary is the only country left effectively holding up Sweden’s NATO membership.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has agreed to meet his counterpart from Hungary, the only NATO member yet to ratify his country’s membership in the military alliance.

Swedish public television on Thursday published a letter Kristersson penned to Prime Minister Viktor Orban in which he said he accepted an invitation received this week to meet in Budapest “at a time convenient for both of us”.

“The completion of the ratification process of Sweden’s NATO membership in the Hungarian parliament will create a solid foundation to move ahead in our bilateral relationship, and to reinforce mutual understanding and trust,” Kristersson said in the letter.

He added that “a more intensive dialogue between our countries would be beneficial”, noting they would also have the opportunity to speak in Brussels on February 1 at a meeting of the European Council.

The publication of the letter comes a day after Turkey’s parliament approved Sweden’s NATO membership. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to add his signature in the coming days.

Kristersson said after the vote in Ankara that Sweden was “one step closer” to joining the alliance.

In a post on X on the same day, Orban wrote that his country supports Sweden’s membership and said he would urge lawmakers to approve its accession quickly.

But on Thursday, Hungary’s parliamentary speaker, Laszlo Kover, said there was no urgency in backing Sweden’s NATO membership bid.

“I do not feel any particular urgency. Moreover, I do not think there is an extraordinary situation,” Kover said.

Finland became the 31st member of the alliance in April, which doubled the length of NATO’s border with Russia. It also  strengthened the defences of three small Baltic countries that joined the bloc after the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.

Sweden and Finland both had a lengthy history of military non-alignment harkening back to the Cold War. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rocked ties on the continent and changed their policy.

Both Orban and Erdogan maintain relatively friendly relations with Russia.



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Biggest NATO drills since Cold War to start next week | NATO News

The drill will involve about 90,000 personnel and rehearse NATO’s execution of its regional defence plans.

NATO will launch its largest exercise since the Cold War next week with about 90,000 personnel set to take part in the months-long wargames, the alliance’s top commander General Chris Cavoli has said.

Cavoli said on Thursday that the drills would rehearse NATO’s execution of its regional plans, the first defence plans the alliance has drawn up in decades, detailing how it would respond to a Russian attack.

NATO did not mention Russia by name in its announcement. But its top strategic document identifies Moscow as the most significant and direct threat to member states.

The alliance also said that taking part will be more than 50 ships, from aircraft carriers to destroyers; more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones; and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles.

“Steadfast Defender 2024 will demonstrate NATO’s ability to rapidly deploy forces from North America and other parts of the alliance to reinforce the defence of Europe,” NATO said.

The wargames will contain a “simulated emerging conflict scenario with a near-peer adversary”, Cavoli told reporters in Brussels after a two-day meeting of national chiefs of defence.

During the second part of the Steadfast Defender exercise, the focus will be on deploying NATO’s quick reaction force to Poland.

The games are expected to last until the end of May.

The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, addresses a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, January 18, 2024 [Virginia Mayo/AP]

Cavoli said the drills will demonstrate “our unity, our strength, and our determination to protect each other”.

The Baltic states, which are seen as most at risk from a potential Russian attack, will be another location of the drills.

Germany will also be a location because it is a hub for incoming reinforcement and countries on the fringes of the alliance, including Norway and Romania.

The troops taking part in the exercises will come from NATO countries and Sweden, which hopes to join the alliance soon.

At the 2023 NATO summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania, allies signed off on regional plans that ended a long era of the military bloc no longer seeing a need for large-scale defence plans, as wars were focused in the Middle East or Afghanistan.

The bloc previously felt confident that there was no longer a threat from Russia.

The last exercises of a similar scale were the Reforger drills during the Cold War in 1988 with 125,000 participants and the Trident Juncture ones in 2018 with 50,000 participants, according to NATO.

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US diplomat Blinken meets Turkey’s Erdogan, kicking off Gaza diplomacy tour | Israel War on Gaza News

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met senior Turkish officials in Istanbul, kicking off a week-long trip across the Middle East aimed at calming tensions that have spiked since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October.

In his meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Blinken “emphasised the need to prevent the conflict from spreading, secure the release of hostages, expand humanitarian assistance and reduce civilian casualties,” US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Saturday.

Blinken also stressed the need to work towards broader, lasting regional peace that ensures Israel’s security and advances the establishment of a Palestinian state, Miller added.

Erdogan, a fierce critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, had previously skipped a meeting with Blinken, when the US diplomat visited Ankara in November, over Washington’s staunch backing of Israel’s assault on Gaza.

On Saturday, Blinken also met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and discussions focused on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Turkey’s foreign ministry said.

In his conversation with Blinken, Fidan pointed to Israel’s escalating aggression, saying it poses a threat to the entire region. He also underlined the necessity of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, allowing the permanent delivery of aid, and stressed the need to return to two-state solution negotiations as soon as possible, the ministry added.

‘Deescalation’

The US’s strained relationship with Turkey precedes the current war, with the two nations also feuding over foreign policy issues ranging from NATO to Iraq.

Ankara is frustrated by the delay in approval from the US Congress for a $20bn deal for 40 F-16 fighter jets. Washington is waiting for Turkey to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

On Saturday, Blinken and Fidan addressed Ankara’s process to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, according to a Turkish foreign ministry statement.

US officials are confident Ankara will soon approve Sweden’s accession after it won the Turkish parliament’s backing last month, a senior State Department official travelling with Blinken told the Reuters news agency.

As part of Blinken’s whistlestop tour of several countries, he then travelled to the island of Crete on Saturday to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Fellow NATO member Greece is awaiting the US Congress’s approval of a sale of F-35 fighter jets.

Post Greece, Blinken’s tour in the coming days will include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the occupied West Bank, where he will deliver a message that Washington does not want a regional escalation of the Gaza conflict. Blinken also hopes to make progress in talks about how Gaza could be governed if and when Israel achieves its aim of eradicating Hamas.

Blinken’s trip has “three main messages”, said Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of Gulf studies at Qatar University: deescalation of the conflict; the humanitarian crisis; and what happens the day after the war ends.

“Washington doesn’t seem to be happy over the statements coming from the government of Netanyahu talking about the displacement of the people. They seem to want to put pressure on Netanyahu, especially with London, Paris and Germany saying the status quo of Gaza should not be changed,” Zweiri told Al Jazeera.

Blinken has said Washington wants regional countries, including Turkey, to play a role in reconstruction, governance and potentially security in the Gaza Strip, which has been run by Hamas since 2007.

At least 22,722 people have been killed and 58,166 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll from the October attack on Israel stands at 1,139 people.



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Poland says Russian missile briefly entered its airspace | Russia-Ukraine war News

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says organisation is ‘monitoring the situation’ as Poland says it has confirmed incident.

Polish military authorities have said that a Russian missile briefly passed through the country’s airspace before leaving, prompting concern from the country that borders Ukraine on the day Russia carried out attacks across several Ukrainian cities killing at least 30 people.

Poland, a member of the NATO military alliance, says that the object entered from the direction of Ukraine on Friday morning, entering about 40 kilometers (24 miles) before leaving after about three minutes.

“Everything indicates that a Russian missile intruded in Poland’s airspace,” said Poland’s defence chief, General Wieslaw Kukula. “It was monitored by us on radars and left the airspace. We have confirmation of this on radars and from [NATO] allies.”

Russian officials have yet to comment on the incident, which comes at a time of high tensions between Russia and European nations located near Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.

Polish officials say they are working to further verify their findings and rule out the possibility of a technical malfunction.

In a social media post on Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the security alliance is monitoring the situation and communicating with Polish officials.

“I spoke with President Andrzej Duda about the missile incident in Poland. NATO stands in solidarity with our valued ally, is monitoring the situation and we will remain in contact as the facts are established. NATO remains vigilant,” Stoltenberg said.

Operational commander of the Polish army Maciej Klisz said that the country’s air defence network had been on high alert due to recent Russian missile and drone attacks in Ukraine and that fighter jets were sent to intercept the missile before it left Polish territory.

The military also said that a ground search was being carried out in the area where the missile disappeared off the radar.

The White House on Friday said that US President Joe Biden was closely following the development in Poland. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan “expressed the United States’ solidarity with Poland, our close NATO ally” and pledged technical assistance as needed in a call with Polish Secretary of State Jacek Siewiera, according to a statement from the White House.

The incident is not the first time that the war in Ukraine has threatened to spill over into Polish territory. In November 2022, an errant Ukrainian air defence missile killed two civilians when it landed in the border village of Przewodow.

Poland’s newly elected Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who won the election with a bloc of pro-EU and pro-Ukraine parties that overthrew the country’s far-right government after eight years in power, has promised full support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

That war has ground on for nearly two years, with little end in sight as Ukraine fights to expel Russian forces that have established strong defences along the captured territory.

While Ukraine still has substantial support from many Western governments, schisms have started to emerge over the provision of further military assistance, including in the US, which has provided more support than any other country.

On Friday, the British defence ministry said that it would send 200 air defence missiles to Ukraine, which is currently under heavy bombardment from Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that he visited Avdiivka, an eastern town near the front line that has seen heavy fighting.

“This is one of the most difficult areas of the front line,” he wrote on Telegram along with a video of him in front of a sign with the name of the town, giving medals to soldiers.

“I thank all those who are at the first line [of fire] for their service, for this year during which the entire country survived thanks to its soldiers,” he said.



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Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs commission approves Sweden’s NATO bid | NATO News

Panel’s approval clears another hurdle in Sweden’s accession process to the bloc in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Turkish parliament’s foreign affairs commission has approved Sweden’s NATO membership bid.

The decision, taken on Tuesday, is a key step towards enlarging the military alliance after 19 months of delays in which Ankara demanded security-related concessions from Stockholm.

The commission, controlled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), voted to back the bid made by Sweden last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The next step is a vote by the full parliament, in which the AK Party and its allies hold a majority. Sweden’s NATO membership is expected to pass, and then the measure would go to Erdogan. If he signs it into law, he would conclude a process that has taken nearly two years and frustrated some of Ankara’s allies in the West.

Commission head Fuat Oktay, however, played down expectations for a speedy vote in the full Grand National Assembly, telling reporters that the speaker would decide on a timing for the vote. Parliament also has a two-week recess in early January.

“The decision to submit it to the general assembly has been made now, but this should not be interpreted as [a sign] that it will pass the general assembly with the same speed. There is no such thing,” Oktay said.

In a statement after the commission’s approval, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said Sweden welcomed the move and looked forward to joining NATO.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also hailed the approval by the Turkish parliamentary commission.

“I welcome the vote by the Turkish parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership,” Stoltenberg said, urging Turkey and fellow holdout Hungary to complete their ratifications “as soon as possible”.

All NATO members, which now number 31, are required to approve new memberships.

Erdogan raised objections in May last year to both Swedish and Finnish requests to join the alliance over what he said was their protection of people whom Turkey accuses of being “terrorists” and over their defence of trade embargoes.

Turkey ratified Finland’s bid in April but kept Sweden waiting until it took more steps to crack down on local members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey, the European Union and the United States list as a terrorist group.

In response, Stockholm introduced a bill that makes being a member of a “terrorist organisation” illegal.

Sweden and NATO members Finland, Canada and the Netherlands also took steps to relax arms-export policies affecting Turkey.

While NATO member Hungary has also not ratified Sweden’s membership, Turkey is seen as the main roadblock to adding the Scandinavian nation to the military alliance and bolstering its defences in the Baltic Sea region.

Erdogan had also linked Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s membership with the US approval of sales of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey.

After a call with US President Joe Biden this month, he said Washington was considering the ratification to move on the request.

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Turkey’s Erdogan and Hungary’s Orban pledge to strengthen ties in Budapest | NATO News

The two countries are the only holdouts in NATO to not have ratified Sweden’s bid to join the transatlantic military alliance.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban have pledged to strengthen ties after talks in Budapest.

The meeting on Monday marked the Turkish president’s second visit to the country in four months.

Hungary and Turkey are the only two NATO countries that have so far not ratified Sweden’s bid to join the transatlantic military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Erdogan made Turkey’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO bid conditional on the United States Congress “simultaneously” approving Ankara’s request for F-16 fighter jets.

The two leaders did not comment on the issue in their address to reporters.

NATO enlargement was discussed during Erdogan’s visit, according to Hungarian President Katalin Novak, who also met the Turkish leader.

Erdogan’s visit coincides with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“We wish to further strengthen our ties in areas such as defence and energy, where we already have fruitful cooperation,” Erdogan said, adding that the two countries aimed to increase their trade volume to $6bn from $4bn currently.

One horsepower for 435

Erdogan was received with military honours in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square before heading into a meeting with Novak and then with Orban.

Orban presented Erdogan with the gift of a Nonius horse – though the Turkish leader fell off a horse in 2003.

“The gift from one equestrian nation to another,” Orban wrote on Facebook.

In return, Orban was gifted with an electric car made in Turkey, a photo of which he posted on X.

“The best deal I’ve ever made! For one horsepower, I got 435. Welcome to Hungary President Erdogan!” he wrote.

During a joint press conference, Orban said his country was “looking for allies with whom we can win”.

“The big plan is that Turks and Hungarians will be victorious together in the 21st century,” he said.

In recent years, Hungary has pursued a policy of opening up to the East, not only towards Russia but also towards China and Central Asian countries.

The central European country of close to 10 million people is the only European Union member state that has maintained close ties to the Kremlin since the beginning of the Ukraine war.

On Sweden’s NATO membership, Budapest has chided Stockholm over its “open hostile attitude”, accusing Swedish representatives of being “repeatedly keen to bash Hungary” on rule-of-law issues.

Orban told parliament in September that ratifying Sweden’s NATO bid was not “urgent”. In the past, Orban has repeatedly stated that Hungary supports Sweden’s bid, claiming that the approval was merely a “technicality”.

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‘Nonsense’: Putin rejects Biden claim that Russia plans to attack NATO | NATO News

The Russian president says Moscow has ‘no interest … to fight with NATO countries’.

The Russian president has dismissed the United States’s claims that Moscow could attack a NATO country in the future as “complete nonsense”, saying such a conflict would run counter to his country’s interests.

Vladimir Putin made the statement in an interview with Russian state TV on Sunday, weeks after US President Joe Biden warned that if Putin achieved victory in Ukraine, he might be emboldened to attack a NATO ally, sparking a third world war.

“It is complete nonsense – and I think President Biden understands that,” Putin told state television channel Rossiya.

“Russia has no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military – to fight with NATO countries.”

Putin added that Biden may be trying to stoke such fears to justify his “erroneous policy” in the region.

US-Russia relations have sunk to their lowest level in decades since Moscow invaded neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

Throughout the 22-month war, the US has provided Ukraine with $111bn in weapons, equipment, and other aid, helping the Ukrainians fend off Russia’s advance and regain some territory.

Biden favours sending even more support to war-torn Ukraine, which is running short on supplies as it grinds to a bloody winter stalemate.

He has asked US Congress to approve $61.4bn in support for Ukraine as part of a larger $110bn package that includes more funds for Israel and other issues.

However, there is waning appetite in the Congress for the lingering war. Some Republican lawmakers have blocked the aid package, demanding the White House first take action on border security.

Biden on December 12 said right-wing lawmakers’ refusal to approve the package also risked handing President Putin a “Christmas gift” of victory.

“Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine,” Biden said during a news conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We must … prove him wrong.”

Presidents Zelenskyy, left, and Biden shake hands in the White House, Washington, DC, December 12 [Mandel Ngan/AFP]

Tensions with Finland

While Putin dismissed the prospect of a direct NATO feud, he did address tensions with neighbouring Finland since it joined the alliance.

Finland, which became a NATO member in April, on Friday shut down its entire eastern border with Russia, which it accuses of orchestrating a migrant crisis on its border.

Putin said he would respond to the deteriorating ties by opening up a military zone in its northwest.

“They [the West] dragged Finland into NATO. Did we have any disputes with them? All disputes, including territorial ones in the mid-20th century, have long been solved,” Putin said.

“There were no problems there. Now there will be [problems] because we will create the Leningrad military district and concentrate a certain amount of military units there.”

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NATO ministers talk Russia-Ukraine war, Kosovo unrest at Brussels summit | NATO News

NATO’s chief urges allies to continue supporting Ukraine amid funding hold-ups in the US and Europe.

Foreign ministers of NATO countries have assembled in Brussels for security talks as Russia presses ahead in its war against Ukraine and Israel enters the fifth day of a fragile truce with Palestinian group Hamas.

The Russia-Ukraine war appeared to top the agenda of the two-day summit which began on Tuesday, as NATO’s chief urged allies to continue supporting the war-wracked country amid funding hold-ups in Washington and Europe.

“I’m confident that the United States will continue to provide support because it is in the security interest of the United States to do so and it’s also in line with what we have agreed,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

“I urge allies, and allies are also committed to continue to deliver support,” he added.

Some $61bn in proposed US aid to Ukraine is being held up by the US Congress, while another $50bn package from the European Union is struggling to pass due to opposition from Hungary.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Brussels, said the funding delays show indications of “fatigue” from some NATO members 21 months into the war.

Ukraine’s top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba will try to overcome such fatigue and lobby for continued NATO backing when he joins the summit on Wednesday.

Kuleba will also work with NATO ministers to outline a plan for reforms aimed at helping Ukraine gain eventual membership in the security alliance.

Russia has said NATO expansionism is at the core of its grudge against bordering Ukraine, which it has repeatedly warned not to join the alliance.

More than 500,000 troops from Russia and Ukraine are estimated to have been killed or wounded since Moscow marched troops across its neighbour’s border in February 2022.

At least 10,000 civilians have also been killed in the conflict, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has said.

Broader regional security

Apart from the Russia-Ukraine war, NATO ministers also planned to discuss Russia’s “destabilising actions” throughout the region, including allegations it has been enabling undocumented migrants to reach neighbouring Finland.

Finland last week closed nearly all its border crossings with Russia after it said an influx of migrants arrived at its border with Russia.

Another topic on the agenda will be unrest between Serbia and Kosovo, where NATO has in recent months deployed more troops to reinforce its peacekeeping force following an attack on Kosovo police.

The ministers are also likely to address the seven-week war between Israel and Hamas, though it is not officially on the agenda.

Al Jazeera’s Vaessen said the ministers would discuss “not only the extension of the ceasefire [between Israel and Hamas] but a future for Gaza after the war is finished”.

Sweden’s membership bid

Hanging in the background of the summit is the membership status of Sweden, which has been awaiting ratification from Turkey and Hungary for 18 months.

Stoltenberg on Tuesday told Hungarian media he expected the two countries to approve Sweden’s membership bid without further delay, but gave no precise timeline.

The Turkish parliament started this month to debate Sweden’s bid to join after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched the process following a deal at a NATO summit in July.

Erdogan had delayed the ratification process over longstanding complaints Sweden is failing to act against Kurdish armed groups in its country that Turkey considers “terrorist” groups.

NATO’s other allies had hoped to formally welcome Sweden into the alliance at its Brussels summit, but Turkey’s ratification process is still at the committee level in parliament.

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Finnish FM: Finland’s defence deal with Israel vs its stance on Gaza | European Union

Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Finland’s NATO accession, Russian threats, and Israeli deal vs Gaza stance.

As the easternmost European Union member, Finland, historically neutral, pivots towards NATO in response to Russia’s Ukraine invasion, new geopolitical challenges arise: increased Russian espionage, cyberattacks and potential election interference, the Finnish government says.

Additionally, a surge of asylum seekers, allegedly directed by Russia, strains stability.

Amid these tensions, Finland’s $345m Israeli defence deal, which many see as conflicting with its stance on Gaza, sparks debate.

Discussing these complex issues, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen talks to Al Jazeera.

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Biden needs to step up military aid for Ukraine — fast

Does President Joe Biden truly want to end the war in Ukraine? He sure isn’t acting like it — judging from his refusal Friday to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets and his team’s new warnings that it might take up to two years to send over a mere 31 M1 Abrams tanks.

“None of the options” for the tanks, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said Thursday, involve getting them to Ukraine in “weeks or months,” as the Bidenites promised last month (even then, only after much needless dithering).

Her people are now “exploring” options she “thinks” could take “less than two years.” That’s nuts: In two years, Ukraine might not exist.

Biden then made matters worse the next day, ruling out the F-16s “for now.” How mealy-mouthed.

Ukraine needs both the tanks and the planes now, especially with battlefield action heating up. Soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, US factories were turning out an average of 2,000 tanks a month. We can’t get 31 existing tanks to Ukraine in under two years?

And why on Earth would the president be open to sending jets later but not now? And why isn’t he making a clear public case for US support for Ukraine, explaining why it’s plainly in the national interest?

His snail’s-pace, “just trust me” approach only prolongs the war and risks an erosion of US will — though time is not on Ukraine’s (or the West’s) side.


President Biden needs to keep up aid for Ukraine.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

In December, Vladimir Putin began mobilizing Russia’s defense industry to ramp up production for a long conflict. Yet with a far smaller population, Ukraine will have a much harder time than Russia replacing lost soldiers as fighting drags on.

Over time, Russia’s advantage is bound to grow — as will the odds of Putin winning part, if not all, of Ukraine, and strengthening positions from which to continue his aggression and further undermine world order.

The Kremlin needs to be defeated not just quickly but completely: A partial win for Putin only kicks the can down the road and confirms his (and other US enemies’) belief that the West has no staying power.

Putin won’t stand down until he’s convinced he can’t win. What will convince him? Massive, overwhelming aid — tanks, jets and whatever other material Ukraine requests — sent quickly.

Biden plainly fears such support might push Putin to go nuclear. Yet a tactical nuke or two wouldn’t actually turn the war, and anything larger guarantees catastrophic reprisals. (Plus, giving in to nuclear blackmail only guarantees more of it, and not just over Ukraine.)

Biden needs to shift gears: Quit the slow-roll, piecemeal step-ups of aid and give Kyiv what it needs for total victory. Now, not later.

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