Soldați ai Brigăzii 7 Infanterie Spaniolă „Galicia” (VJTF) din Żagań, Polonia, în timpul exercițiului „Brilliant Jump”, din 25 mai 2016 / Foto: MNC NE PAO
NATO foreign ministers celebrated the 75th anniversary of their alliance on Thursday, as they discussed bolstering Ukraine’s defense in the face of Russia’s invasion.
The alliance’s 32 member states agreed on Wednesday to start planning for a greater role in coordinating military aid to Ukraine to help it battle Russia and show its unity as Ukraine awaits a package worth some $60 billion that remains stalled in the U.S. Congress.
On the second day of a meeting in Brussels, the ministers marked the signing in Washington on April 4, 1949, of the North Atlantic Treaty that established the transatlantic political and military alliance.
“Europe needs North America for its security,” Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a ceremony at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.
“At the same time, North America also needs Europe. European allies provide world-class militaries, vast intelligence networks and unique diplomatic leverage, multiplying America’s might.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview published on Thursday to mark NATO’s 75th anniversary that Russia-NATO relations were at an all-time low but Moscow has no intention of entering a conflict with a NATO country.
Grushko told Russian state news agency RIA that relations were “predictably and deliberately” deteriorating, and all channels of dialogue between Moscow and the alliance had been brought to a “critical zero” level by Washington and Brussels.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that “support for Ukraine, the determination of every country represented here at NATO, remains rock solid.”
“We will do everything we can, allies will do everything that they can, to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to continue to deal with Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, aggression that is getting worse with every passing day,” he said.
“The fight that Ukraine has on its hands is not only Ukraine’s fight, it’s everyone’s fight because the aggression being committed by Russia is not only an aggression against Ukraine and its people, it’s an aggression against the very principles that lie at the heart of the international system,” he added.
