NATO must defend Sweden and Finland in case of armed aggression, even though neither country is a member of the alliance, a senior NATO official said on Wednesday at an event highlighting growing concerns about the military's threat. Russia.
Commodore Hans Helseth, a special adviser to the Joint NATO War Center in Norway, said that the two nations' growing ties to the Western alliance increased their risks and that NATO had a moral obligation to help if the nations were attacked.
"In its view, NATO should simply for moral reasons and other reasons come to the assistance of the two countries," said Helseth at the Berlin Security Conference.
The official also said that NATO remains open to receiving the two nations as members if they want to join the group.
Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland agreed this month to step up defense cooperation and exchange more air surveillance information, part of a broader effort to build their defense to counter Russian activities.
Officials from Finland and Sweden spoke at the conference about their concerns about Russia's military buildup in the Arctic and northern Europe in general, citing what they called the "annexation" in 2014 of the Crimean region - served as an alert.
The two countries participate in NATO military exercises, but are not covered by Article V of the NATO founding treaty, which says that an attack on a member is an attack on everyone. Both countries know the steps to join the alliance, but this would create a reaction in Moscow, which opposes any expansion of NATO.
A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official on Tuesday called for efforts to rebuild ties with European countries, including more communication between military experts.
But Helseth said there could be "no return to business as usual" with Russia, given its annexation of the Crimea and its role in supporting violence in eastern Ukraine, as well as the support of Syrian President Bashar Assad and use of "hostile attacks in the cyber domain".
US general warns of 'Russian threat'
Top NATO and member military leaders attend the two-day event in Berlin on their efforts to build a greater deterrent to any military aggression by Russia.
US Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges, who heads US Army forces in Europe, said that Russia missed a great opportunity to ease the situation with the West by not being more transparent about military exercises this year.
The US and NATO officials say that Russian forces far surpassed the Zapad 2017, held in Belarus, the limit of 13,000 men beyond which a country is required to invite military observers. Russia says Western officials are exaggerating the scope of exercise.
Hodges said western nations had achieved an unprecedented level of information sharing during the exercise in Sweden at the same time and said they expected it to continue even as NATO expands its own capabilities to rapidly move forces to the eastern flank.
He cited concerns about Russia's recent activities, including the purchase of 2,000 vehicles for the transport of tanks by road and moves to take advantage of the melting of ice in the Arctic. "Russia is not sitting around waiting to see what happens," he said.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário