The 28 member countries will improve defences against Russia's aggression and other threats, a decision largely spurred by the country's actions in Ukraine.
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| Virginia Mayo / The Associated Press |
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, speaks with British
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond during a round table meeting at NATO
headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.
BRUSSELS—NATO nations
agreed on Tuesday to bolster the military alliance’s defences against
Russian aggression, continuing its return to its founding mission by
focusing on nearby threats as it steps back from more than a decade of
combat in Afghanistan.
The 28 member
countries approved a new interim quick-reaction military force to
protect themselves from Russia or other threats, with an initial unit to
be up and running next year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg
said. The interim force will be supplanted in 2016 by a permanent one,
he said.
“We are protecting our
allies and supporting our partners,” Stoltenberg told reporters at an
annual meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers.
U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry urged diplomats from other nations to contribute their
fair share to the alliance, noting “we can’t have 21st-century security
on the cheap.”
It was likely to be
the last meeting of foreign ministers who oversaw the International
Security Assistance Force, made up largely of NATO troops, which has
sought to stabilize Afghanistan since shortly after the 2001 invasion.
The foreign ministers
also approved maintaining measures through 2015 initiated to reassure
NATO nations nearest Russia, Stoltenberg said. Such measures include
stepped-up air patrols over the Baltic Sea and the continuous rotation
of NATO military units in and out of countries such as Poland and Baltic
republics.
A senior NATO
official, speaking anonymously, said the brigade-sized land-based
component of the force, about 3,000-4,000 troops contributed by Germany,
Norway and the Netherlands, is expected to be operational as of Jan. 1.
The military ramp-up was largely spurred by Russia’s aggressive actions in neighbouring Ukraine. It comes as Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russia separatists signed a new truce on Tuesday, to take effect Friday.
But as with the Sept. 5
ceasefire, which has been violated almost daily with more than 1,000
combat-related deaths in three months, the renewed pledge to end eight
months of fighting over territory in eastern Ukraine is likely to have
little deterrent effect on irregular forces fighting on both sides.
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